Harvard Professor Testifies At Proposition 8 Trial That Marriage Is About More Than Procreation

Nancy Cott, a US history professor at Harvard, has testified at the Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco and disputed an argument by the defense lawyer that states should restrict marriage to only heterosexual couples for the sake of procreation.

Testifying that historically procreation is not the only function of marriage, the professor and author of a book on marriage as a public institution, argued that marriage also has an economic purpose, and as the definition has changed, the reasons to block same sex couples from marrying have disappeared to.

Conceding that she wasn’t able to predict what impact same sex marriage would have on society, Cott did however think to not could as damaging saying “It seems to me that by excluding same-sex couples from the ability to marry and to engage in this institution, that society is actually denying itself another resource for stability and social growth,” she said.

Whilst the outcome of the case is uncertain, many believe that the case, currently being tried at the federal courts in San Francisco and presided over by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, will be appealed in the Supreme Court which could lead to laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman to be either upheld or abolished across the country.