Feb. 17, 2006

Student Submission

Rainbow Alliance member promotes Freedom to Marry Week

By AMANDA MORRISON
abm001@marietta.edu

This week, MC Rainbow Alliance joins organizations across the country in drawing attention to the inequality faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) couples denied the freedom to marry. 

While the term “marriage” holds religious connotations, it is a definition bestowing important legal rights and responsibilities and carrying social importance. This includes next-of-kin status for emergency and medical decisions, and financial benefits involving taxes, insurance, etc. Churches are free to choose whether to bless and perform same-sex marriages, but gay and straight marriages would be the same under law.

Creating marriage-like packages and calling them something else, such as “civil unions,” is not sufficient. We have already learned that separate cannot be equal. It’s easy to check the box marked “married.”  Entering a complicated discussion of your legal status and whether or not it is recognized by a particular agency is not. 

Opposition to LGBT marriage includes the argument that homosexuals threaten traditional families. There are no quality controls for straight marriages. Just like straight people, some LGBT people enter stable, long-term relationships and some do not. According to the American Psychological Association, children in LGBT households experience normal, satisfactory development.       

As the late Coretta Scott King asserted in 2004, “Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection.” Please observe Freedom to Marry Week by educating yourself about LGBT issues and speaking out in support of equality.

Marietta College’s Rainbow Alliance will be holding a pledge-signing event on February 16 on from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the upper floor of Gilman. The Alliancce encourages students, faculty, area residents, and alumni to pledge their support for marriage equality. Participants will be entered in a drawing to win either a Freedom to Marry pen or a Freedom to Marry bumper sticker.