The same sex marriage teach in on Thursday April 8, 2004 gave the University and community an opportunity to learn more about the issue of same sex marriage. “Teach ins have been going on for decades,” said Michelle Brodsky coordinator for the Center for Sexualities and Gender Diversity. Teach ins happened during the civil rights movements and many other historical events. The teach ins’ keynote speaker was Mary Bonauto, civil rights project director for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders or GLAD.
Before the event, Shelby Robinson voiced her opinions on same sex marriage. “They deserve the same rights. There’s benefits to being married, like lower taxes. They are just changing it [society], not hurting it,” she said. This sentiment was echoed all day at the teach-in.
Bonauto started with a story about a lesbian woman who recently received rights over her partner’s son. The audience clapped loudly. She spoke about equal protection for all citizens.
“The bedrock promise to us is that we are equal under the law,” said Bonauto. In Bonauto’s work she said she comes across a lot of gay and lesbian people who say, “This is the person I love, why can’t I marry them?”
One reason, Bonauto said marriage is important for same-sex couples, is that “in Maine and Massachusetts, for example, there are over 300 rights and protections if you are legally married.” Some of these rights are shared pensions, medical decisions if a partner is ill, and medical leave rights.
Bonauto then went on to discuss how the government is trying to create new rules for gay people. “They want to procreate a certain kind,” when the government hands out marriage licenses to only certain people. She spoke about a gay couple with a daughter they raised for 14 years.
“How does it benefit them not to [marry]?” Bonauto argued, “Waving the kid flag is not enough to permit this discrimination.” Bonauto said there is proof that children that are raised by same-sex couples do just as well as those raised by heterosexual couples.
Bonauto was optimistic when she said “the common sense of this country is going to kick in and these laws won’t be passed.” She said if this law gets passed it will be the only time Congress has singled out one class of marriage in its history. Bonauto ended her speech by encouraging the crowd to struggle and to find their voice and speak out about stories about same sex couples.
Ruth Miller can be contacted at [email protected]