Court Weighs Impact of Gay Marriage on Children

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals court in San Francisco is hearing arguments this week over whether gay marriage will harm children.

Supporters of same-sex marriage say bans are harmful to children because that tells them they are from the wrong kind of family.

"There's only one message sent by an exclusion of same sex couples from marriage, and it's the message of indignity and stigma set by an exclusion that's class-based and it says that these families are inferior," Tara Borelli, an attorney against gay marriage ban, said.

Opponents of gay marriage say same-sex marriage undermines the right of a child to be raised by a father and mother.

"You know, Nevada, the coalition, they would see a two or three or four percent increase in fatherlessness. That's a great, great tragedy. And, to avoid that would certainly qualify as a compelling governmental interest," Monte Neil Stewart, president of Marriage Law Foundation, said. http://www.marriagelawfoundation.org/

State and federal court judges have been striking down bans in more than a dozen states since last year.