Brown's arguments are well articulated, but I would hesitate to define them as rational. From what I can tell, it all comes down to the fact that "no society that he knows of, in the history of the world, has ever condoned same-sex marriage." Regardless of what this implies about his knowledge of history, he seems to be arguing against the idea that progress can have any merit. "This is how our ancestors did things, so it must be right." Is this a fundamental principle of conservatism? Should we go back to our caves and forget about fire? Was the wheel just a huge mistake?