Thomas Sowell, a black, Harlem-raised conservative scholar and pundit, is one of America's finest commentators today. Here are passages from some of his writings on the subject of gay marriage:

From "The Notion of 'Gay Marriage' Is a Product of Sloppy Thinking," March 24, 2000:

• Why is marriage a government concern in the first place?... First of all, a marriage between a man and a woman has the potential to produce additional people... The well-being of those children is important both for their sake and for the sake of society as a whole... Second, men and women are inherently in very different positions within a marriage. The inescapable fact that only women become pregnant means that male and female situations are never going to be the same... Third... [s]ince [after a few decades] a woman has often invested years of her life in creating a home and family, the marriage contract is one way of trying to assure her [of some security against being cast off in favor of a younger woman].

From "Gay Marriage 'Rights' Are Nonsensical," January 3, 2005:

• The issue [for supporters of "gay equality"] is not individual rights. What activists are seeking is official social approval of their lifestyle. But this is the antithesis of equal rights. If you have a right to someone else's approval, then they do not have a right to their own opinions and values.

From "Gay 'Marriage,'" August 16, 2006:

• Analogies [of bans on gay marriage to bans on] interracial marriage are bogus. Race is not part of the definition of marriage. A ban on interracial marriage is a ban on the same actions otherwise permitted, because of the race of the particular people involved. It is a discrimination against people, not actions. There is no reason why all those [marriage] laws should be transferred willy-nilly to a different union, one with no inherent tendency to produce children nor the inherent asymmetries of relationships between people of different sexes.