To Matan1 – Actually the American College for Pediatricians had THIS to say regarding the ruling:
As for the OP’s point, as others have alluded to, there are 2 reasons for Government to intervene in the matter of marriage – ANY marriage – by regulating certification and granting married citizens benefits that unmarried citizens cannot get:
1) To promote marriage because the government seeks to uphold a traditional religious/moral value system.
2) To promote marriage because the government seeks to increase the financial, health, and social welfare of its population – believing that increasing the population and cultivating an environment where the next generation can be raised under stable, monogamous parents.
At the end of the day, same-gender “marriage” does neither. It definitely does not adhere to any religious or traditional value system, nor does it contribute in the second way. These couples as a fact, are unable to increase the population, they have shown to alarmingly proliferate the spread of AIDS, HIV, and other STDs, they have been shown, as a generalization, to not be capable of establishing a stable, monogamous, healthy environment for any children which they may foster from others. See quote above as well as many, many other studies. It simply is not rational for any government to encourage this behavior, even from a strictly Utilitarian point of view.
As for “equality” and “discrimination”: Everyone in the USA is equally entitled to marry one person (at a time) of the opposite gender, without discrimination against religion, race, physical handicap, or personal belief. Everyone should be equally forbidden to marry one person of the same gender, of unlawful age, of incestuous relationship, or of non-human species. Period.