Stephanie Coontz Quotes

I think people are free to marry any way they want to. But churches are free to set standards for marriage.

Marriage has historically been in the domain of the States to regulate.

But whether a couple is a man and a woman has everything to do with the meaning of marriage.

The institution of marriage, if you look at it over many centuries, has come and gone.

That's what they do in Europe. You go down to the city hall and you become legally connected. You have a civil union there. Then, if you're religious, you go down to the church, and the church blesses the union. That gets the problem solved.

Marriage is one of the most sacred human institutions. I asked our Senators, as many South Dakotans have done, to protect marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

I think that everyone should get married at least once, so you can see what a silly, outdated institution it is.

When two people marry they become in the eyes of the law one person, and that one person is the husband.

I was married for a little while. I chose to be married. Then I chose not to be. But in the state of Maryland, I could... That should be the case for all Marylanders.

In terms of the legal matter of creating a contract between two people that's called marriage, and allowing them to live together with the protection of law, it seems to me is the way we should be moving in this country.

I, having no legal means of divesting myself of these odious powers put on record a formal protest against the existing law of marriage.

A marriage, valid by the law of the place where it was contracted, and not in fraud of the law of any other place, is valid everywhere; and that no technical domicile at the place of the contract is necessary to make it so

Whatever their relative valuation of the single and married states, most societies in history made sharp distinctions between those who married and those who remained single: They were seen as mutually exclusive ways of life, with different legal rights and social obligations.

No one should be denied the opportunity to choose his or her spouse. It is a basic human right and deeply personal decision.

The right to marry is vital in society. It's a right that's older than the Bill of Rights because it goes back to the common law.

I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage.

Committed and loving gay and lesbian couples deserve to have their love, their relationships, and their families recognized like everyone else.

Married life is the same as dating life, except now you have a ring, and the state of California has a vested financial interest in the outcome of your marriage.

I don't believe that a piece of paper can decide your relationship status.

I believe that anybody can cohabitate with whoever they want to, but marriage to me is, you know, between a man and a woman and I'm not going to be afraid to say it.

Throughout America's history, the start of adult life for women - whatever else it might have been destined to include - had been typically marked by marriage.

Marriage in our Constitution is very clear that it's a man marrying a woman, largely with a view to having a natural family, and if they are unable to do that, obviously then they can adopt.

I didn't think I would ever get married, and that was a choice.

I got married at 24. It was an arranged marriage.

Gay marriage - it's not about two people being gay: it's about two people who love each other and who have decided to commit to each other for the exact same reasons any other couple would get married.