RYAN ZEMPEL AT C-LOG is unhappy with this story about senior citizens shacking up. It doesn’t seem so bad to me. But then, I had already read this New York Times story about sex at a senior-citizens’ home, which I found rather sweet.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding Zempel, but I don’t see the problem here. Heck, it’s a lot less of an issue than teen sex! You’ve got no worries about pregnancy. STDs seem low-risk, and at any rate are a minor issue compared with the other health problems these folks have. Shacking up even protects your heirs from having someone else take part of their inheritance. I don’t think there’s a consequentialist argument here at all: just a basically religious argument against sex outside of marriage.

Fine. Believe that if you want. But don’t expect people who don’t share that religious belief to pay any attention. And don’t pretend that’s not what you’re doing — as “social” conservatives so often do, dressing up essentially religious arguments in social-policy garb, something that Zempel, to his credit, isn’t doing.