Speakers at the conference echoed YAF’s views. Chief among them was Princeton professor Robert P. George, who, on a panel with Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, defined marriage as “the relationship that brings together a man and a woman in a permanent and exclusive bond as husband and wife to be father and mother to any children born of that union.” The state has a particular interest in endorsing and regulating marriage, distinct from other religious ceremonies that are private, such as baptisms or bar mitzvahs, because of its capacity to produce children, he argued.

While the students’ views are different from those of more long-standing members of the conservative movement, their reasons for holding them have nothing to do with the Left’s expansive conception of rights. For Diaz, a federal recognition of same-sex marriage would reflect the rights guaranteed in the 14th Amendment. “The Constitution is not à la carte, you can’t just pick and choose which rights you want to defend,” he told NR, quoting Cammack’s defense of the Respect for Marriage Act when it first passed the House. (Though the freshman Florida congresswoman spoke at the conference, her remarks did not include commentary on gay marriage, and her speech was cut short when House members were called for a vote.)

Diaz and Allen, who is also gay, both articulated their belief that extending marriage to same-sex couples is a way of encouraging them to adopt a more traditional lifestyle.