The Debate Continues

Two prominent alumni invoived in thecontroversial issue of same-sex niarrage offer their opposing viewpoints.

Reasons to Support It By Hillary Smith Goodridge '78

Millions of gay people are involved in committed relationships. An increasing number of these relationships include children. Marriage is how we legally create family and kin. To deny marriage to same-sex couples and families creates a secondclass status that serves no purpose.

2. Marriage is the gateway to more than 1,400 protections, benefits and responsibilities for couples. It is impossible to replicate marriage with contracts or civil unions.

3 Marriage has always been a flexible institution that reflects each culture and time: The Old Testament suggests polygamy as a general model; in the first two centuries in the United States women lost many of their legal rights when they married; and as recently as 1967 a couple of mixed race could not get a marriage license in many states.

4 Marriage is a basic right. According to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren; "Marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man,' fundamental to our very existence and survival."

5. As Justice John Greaney wrote in his opinion for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: "The plaintiffs are members of our community, our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends. We share a common humanity and participate together in the social contract that is the foundation of our commonwealth. Simple principles of decency dictate that we extend to the plaintiffs, and to their new status, full acceptance, tolerance and respect."

6. Two people wishing to publicly commit to one another in love for life should be cause for celebration.

7. The sky is still above us in Massachusetts, the sun still rises in the east and thousands of families are happier and more secure.

Good ridge was the lead plaintiff inlast year's Massachusetts SupremeCourt ruling that legal benefits ofmarriage could no longer be deniedgay couples. She lives in Bostonwith her partner and daughter.

Reasons to Oppose It By Matt Daniels '85

1. The polls have consistently shown that more than 70 percent of Americans believe marriage should be between a man and woman. They want our laws to send, a positive message to kids about marriage and family that is consistent with what they're teaching their kids at home.

2 It is legal for gays to adopt and have children through artificial insemination, but that ability does not affect marriage. As for civil unions and benefits, I believe that should be an issue for each state to decide for itself.

3 Thirty years of social science data strongly indicate that kids do best with a mother and a father. The jury is out on the phenomenon of gay and lesbian parenting, but before we engage in this sweeping revolution, I would argue a high probability of a negative outcome for kids.

4 The bottom line is that most Americans believe the term "gay marriage" is an oxymoron. Gays and lesbians have the right to live as they choose, but they don't have a right to redefine marriage for our entire society.

5. The driving reasons for marriage are two social goals: To hold partners accountable to each other for the welfare of children they bring into this world and to hold them accountable to society for children they bring into this world.

6 The benefits of marriage derive from the fact that the two sides of the human race can be brought together with all their complementary gifts and attributes to share in the enterprise of parenting.

7. The lawsuits that have been filed for 10 years now trying to strike down our marriage laws are quite obviously an end-run around public opinion and the democratic process.

Matt Daniels is the president of theAlliance for Marriage, which favors aconstitutional marriage amendment.He lives in Washington, D.C., withhis wife and two children.