Should the Government Approve of Same-Sex "Marriage"?

On Monday, January 25, the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought, the intellectual outreach arm of the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center, will hold the third annual “Great Debate” on the University of Colorado campus and host nationally-known speakers Jonathan Rauch and Maggie Gallagher for a debate entitled “Should the Government Approve Same-Sex Marriage?” Last year’s “Great Debate” featured Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens and drew a crowd of over 2,400 people to CU’s campus to hear the debate on “Atheism vs. Religion.” Over 2,000 people are expected to attend again this year and tickets are currently on sale. Tickets are $10 per adult, $5 per student and can be purchased at www.thomascenter.org or at any King Soopers.

Jonathan Rauch, a senior writer and columnist for National Journal magazine in Washington and a contributing editor of The Atlantic, is the author of several books and many articles on public policy, culture and economics. "For the American family and the beleaguered institution of marriage, same-sex marriage is part of the solution. When gay couples settle down, form family ties, and make the noblest commitment that most people ever make, it's a win-win--good for them and good for society. I see my job as persuading conservatives to understand that their own case for the social benefits of marriage doesn't suddenly become false when you apply it to gays."

Maggie Gallagher is the president of the National Organization for Marriage which the Washington Post recently called the “pre-eminent organization” fighting gay marriage, a nationally syndicated columnist, and the author of three books on marriage. "Unions of husband and wife really are unique and deserve their unique status in law, culture and society. These are the only kind of sexual union that can make new life and connect those children in love to their mother and father. Gay marriage is not about what two people do in private, it is about what government is going to say and do in public. Same-sex unions are not marriages. Treating them as marriages, and particularly misusing government to require others in the society to do so, is profoundly unjust."