Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear's lawyers say Kentucky's ban on gay marriage should be retained because only "man-woman" couples can naturally procreate, according to USA Today.
Appealing a federal judge's decision that the state's ban on recognizing gay marriages violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law, Beshear's hired counsel say Kentucky has a legitimate interest in encouraging procreation to support "long-term economic stability through stable birth rates," USA Today reported.
In February Kentucky's law and constitutional amendment banning the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states were removed, saying Kentucky had offered no rational basis for treating gay and lesbian couples differently, according to USA Today.
In the 32-page appeal, Beshear's attorney Leigh Gross Latherow says Kentucky has an interest in maintaining birth rates, which if allowed to fall can induce economic crises because of the reduced demand for good and services, and the reduction of the work force, USA Today reported. She cited recent dips in the economies of Germany and Japan tied to declines in birth rates.
Laura Landenwich, one of the plaintiff's lawyers, said the state's view "that marriage is designed to perpetuate the species is offensive," according to USA Today.
"Most Kentuckians - on both sides of the issue - view marriage as a social partnership, a spiritual bond, a commitment to navigate life together," Landenwich said, USA Today reported. "Children are often a part of that shared journey, but the relationship extends beyond that."
The appeal also doesn't address gay couples who give birth through surrogates or other alternatives, according to USA Today.
In his ruling, Heyburn rejected the idea that procreation is a legitimate reason for gay-marriage bans, saying exclusion of same-sex couples on those grounds "makes just as little sense as excluding postmenopausal (heterosexual) couples or infertile couples," USA Today reported.
The state's appeal says that just because "man-woman couples who are infertile or incapable of naturally procreating are allowed to marry does not nullify the rational basis for a man-woman marriage classification," according to USA Today.
"The institution of the man-woman marriage is deeply rooted in the history and traditions of our country," the appeal says, USA Today reported. "A right to same-sex marriage is not."
The state's brief says "the power to define and regulate marriage is one uniquely within the realm of the state legislatures," and that Heyburn erroneously determined that Kentucky's 1,222,125 voters who passed the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage "lacked a single rational basis for Kentucky's adoption of the traditional man-woman marriage model," USA Today reported. The plaintiffs have until June 9 to file a response to the appeal.
