Case 2:13-cv-00395-AWA-LRL Document 135 Filed 02/13/14 Page 30 of 41 PageID# 1072
dad, specifically the mom and dad [who] are responsible for bringing them into this world." Id. at 59:20-24. This counsel also argued that the Commonwealth has a legitimate interest in
celebrating the "diversity of the sexes," but failed to establish how prohibiting some Virginia
citizens from marrying is related rationally to such a celebration. Id. at 52:9-10.
In sum, Proponents contend that Virginia should be permitted to "rationally conclude that, all things being equal, it is better for the natural parents to also be the legal parents." Br. Supp. Def. Rainey's Mot. Summ. J. 23, ECF No. 39.
The Amid Professors refer to evidence that purports to demonstrate that children benefit
from the unique parenting contributions of opposite-sex parents. The Amici Professors reject recent studies that found that children raised by gay and lesbian parents are no different from
children raised by "intact biological parents," asserting that the studies are empirically undermined by methodological limitations.
This rationale fails under the applicable strict scrutiny test as well as a rational-basis review. Of course the welfare of our children is a legitimate state interest. However, limiting
marriage to opposite-sex couples fails to further this interest. Instead, needlessly stigmatizing and humiliating children who are being raised by the loving couples targeted by Virginia's Marriage Laws betrays that interest. E. S.-T., like the thousands of children being raised by same-sex couples, is needlessly deprived of the protection, the stability, the recognition and the legitimacy that marriage conveys.
"Like opposite-sex couples, same-sex couples have happy, satisfying relationships and form deep emotional bonds and strong commitments to their partners."
Perry v.
Schwarzenegger, 704 F. Supp. 2d 921, 967 (N.D. Cal. 2010). Gay and lesbian couples are as
capable as other couples of raising well-adjusted children. See id. at 980 ("Children raised by
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