Douthat’s tepid defense of traditional marriage

Ross Douthat critiqued two “commonplace arguments” for gay marriage, and did so rightly. But he has to know that those aren’t the best arguments social conservatives have in their arsenal. In the case of what counts as “natural,” we’ve spent all kinds of time trying to disabuse people of the notion that it can easily be identified with Darwinian theories of biology—a task made more difficult by Douthat’s decision to reinforce the wrong interpretation. Even while Douthat grants too much to alternative theories of sexuality, he is beating up a straw man.