...Having established that children or the ability to have children aren't necessary to have a valid marriage.....why would we ban gays or lesbians based on their inability to have kids? The criteria you're using to exclude gays.....doesn't apply to anyone. Why then would it apply to gays, and then apply ONLY to gays?
It makes no sense.
That's wrong and a strawman. This isn't the reason states are involved in marriage. They are involved because where children come from [men having sex with women] they want to incentive both blood parents to stay together in marriage for the benefit of what happens when men and women have sex.l.
Yet there are no laws that actually incentivize or reward that.
No law requires parents to marry.
No law requires married couples to have- or attempt to have children.
No law requires married parents to remain married.
Instead, marriage law has no expectation that a married couple will ever have children.
Marriage law allows 80 year old couples to marry, and in at least one state actually requires a couple to prove that they are unable to marry in order to be allowed to marry.
IF states are involved in marriage only because 'blood parents'....why would marriage law allow marriage between a couple that are required not to be able to have children? The state could simply prohibit that marriage.
Instead the state allows the marriage- but demands no children from the marriage.
Which delinks the whole 'marriage is for children' argument.