Marriage (men and women committing to each other, having children if possible, and staying together for life) is a naturally-occurring phenomenon since the beginning of human society. It is a type of relationship, not merely a license from the state. Society has it's own best interests in mind when it attempts to encourage and support this kind of relationship by institutionalizing it. By holding this kind of relationship as the ideal (though many may not marry for good reasons), a society seeks stability and self-perpetuation. Yes, marriages can be screwed up, and well-adjusted people have arisen from other kinds of family circumstances. There is no guarantee that each particular marriage is going to be better for the people involved than remaining single would have been. The worst marriage is worse in many ways than the best alternative relationship situation. Yet no form of relationship (generally speaking) does well all the things marriage does well (when it's working right). The "traditional" family is not the only acceptable family structure, but it is still the most worthwhile ideal to strive for, and a society that wants to thrive should feel no obligation to actively encourage anything else.
Marriage (men and women committing to each other, having children if possible, and staying together for life) is a naturally-occurring phenomenon since the beginning of human society. It is a type of relationship, not merely a license from the state. Society has it's own best interests in mind when it attempts to encourage and support this kind of relationship by institutionalizing it. By holding this kind of relationship as the ideal (though many may not marry for good reasons), a society seeks stability and self-perpetuation. Yes, marriages can be screwed up, and well-adjusted people have arisen from other kinds of family circumstances. There is no guarantee that each particular marriage is going to be better for the people involved than remaining single would have been. The worst marriage is worse in many ways than the best alternative relationship situation. Yet no form of relationship (generally speaking) does well all the things marriage does well (when it's working right). The "traditional" family is not the only acceptable family structure, but it is still the most worthwhile ideal to strive for, and a society that wants to thrive should feel no obligation to actively encourage anything else.