Local blogger Hank Beckman of the Wheaton Patch reports:

Author and economist Jennifer Roback Morse spoke to Wheaton College students Thursday about the institution of marriage, and why legalizing same sex marriage would be troublesome for society.

... Morse stressed that redefining marriage undermined what she called the “essential public purpose of marriage.”

She noted that, in a legal sense, attaching children to their parents was the primary reason for marriage to even exist. “If it weren’t for that purpose, I don’t think we would need marriage at all,” she said. “Procreation is key to marriage.”

Morse said that court decisions back up her opinion on the essential role of procreation and rejected the idea that banning same sex marriage meant that gay people were being treated differently under the law. “They are situated differently,” she said. “It is only when courts say it (procreation) is not an important function of marriage that same sex marriage is supported.”