[hackinthebochs]

I'm not a fan of that reasoning. When framing the question in terms of "marrying opposite sex", it cannot be concluded that this rule violate equal protection (men and women are equally allowed to marry the opposite sex). When framing the question in terms of what an individual can do (Jane cannot marry Susan whereas John can), then it appears you violate equal protection. This scenario tells me one thing: that this reading of the issue is missing critical nuance.

Whenever a rephrasing of an issue can lead to the opposite conclusion, its clear that critical nuance is being stripped away. The fact is a marriage is a coupling of (at least) two people; one cannot meaningfully speak of an action of marriage of a single person. So framing the question in terms of what an individual can/can't do seems to be the error. Restrictions on marriage can only be meaningfully applied to the set of all individuals involved; and there is no way to phrase it in this way that leads to an equal protection violation.