The notion that baby-making is the principal purpose of marriage in 21st century America is plain absurd. Let’s just say that upfront.

Arguably it never has been the main reason for matrimony. Of course, for some people it has been and still is. But that doesn’t make it a universally accepted concept.

Not being a psychologist, anthropologist, cleric or attorney, I’m a little out of my league here. I’m merely a hack columnist, a California native who writes about state government and politics.

And admittedly I didn’t pay much attention to the Proposition 8 campaign in 2008 when voters reinstated the ban on same-sex marriage, six months after the California Supreme Court had ruled that a previous ban approved in 2000 violated the state Constitution. I figured it was a gut vote for most people. They weren’t looking for a lot of pundit analysis.

Read the rest of George Skelton’s LA Times article here.