Whether gay couples should be allowed to legally marry was scheduled to be a topic of debate this week at a conference co-hosted and funded by a branch of the Georgia Supreme Court.
Billed as the first of its kind, the summit, dubbed “For Children’s Sake: Get Married, Stay Married,” was scheduled for Nov. 19-20 and concluded after Southern Voice press time.
The conference was co-hosted by the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Children, Marriage & Family Law and the Institute for American Values, a private, non-profit think tank dedicated to “strengthening families and civil society in the U.S. and the world.” David Blankenhorn, the institute’s executive director, has publicly spoken out against same-sex marriage.
At press time, more than two-dozen lawyers and scholars were scheduled to discuss a variety of topics related to the promotion of marriage and the impact of current and proposed marital law.
One of the reasons for the Supreme Court commission to discuss marriage is that divorce has a tremendous impact on Georgia’s courts and on Georgia’s families, according to an introduction to the summit.
“Each year, more than 65 percent of Georgia’s civil court dockets are matters pertaining to children and families. These cases outnumber not only all other civil cases, but also all felony and misdemeanor cases combined,” the introduction states.
The state Supreme Court’s commission spent approximately $45,000 of taxpayer money on the conference, but hoped to return much of the money back to the state through fees from those attending, said Supreme Court spokesperson Jane Hansen.
Although the summit addressed political and religious issues, Hansen said the conference did not violate the court’s pledge of neutrality.
“This not the court, it is a court commission, and the commission is having a debate on the different kinds of laws,” she said.
Hansen noted the summit was designed to educate the court and the attorneys who appear before it on family issues.
“Those are legal issues that come before the court all the time, so it’s a proper discussion to have,” Hansen said.
‘RIGHT WAY’ FOR CONVERSATION
Because the summit was co-organized by the Institute for American Values, at least six of the 29 the speakers have connections to that organization. One of the summit’s speakers is Blankenhorn, president and executive director of the Institute for American Values, a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage.
Two more speakers are members of the Georgia Family Council, which has worked with Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council, which also opposes gay marriage.
Blankenhorn wrote a Sept. 19 opinion piece for the L.A. Times titled “Protecting marriage to protect children” to voice his support of Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage in California.
“I’m a liberal Democrat. And I do not favor same-sex marriage,” he wrote. Adding that children are best served by having a father and mother, Blankenhorn said same-sex marriage is actually a disservice to children of those families.
“Every child being raised by gay or lesbian couples will be denied his birthright to both parents who made him. Every single one. Moreover, losing that right will not be a consequence of something that at least most of us view as tragic, such as a marriage that didn’t last, or an unexpected pregnancy where the father-to-be has no intention of sticking around,” he wrote. “On the contrary, in the case of same-sex marriage and the children of those unions, it will be explained to everyone, including the children, that something wonderful has happened!”
Blankenhorn told Southern Voice despite his own stated feelings on marriage, and the writings of several of the speakers and organizations present, the summit itself would be unbiased.
“There is nothing token or manipulative about this,” he said. “This is the right way to be having this conversation.”
Blankenhorn said the main time gay marriage was to be addressed during the summit would be a Wednesday evening keynote conversation between him and Jonathan Rauch, an openly gay journalist who has written extensively on marriage equality.
“The way to think of it is, you get blasted on it either way you go,” Blankenhorn said of addressing marriage law and gay marriage. “If we had nothing on it you would be blasting away on that. … If we don’t address it at all, people would say how that you are ignoring this issue. So what we decided to do is go out and get the most prominent person we could find who supports gay marriage, which is Jonathan Rauch, and someone who doesn’t, which is me, and have a conversation.”
Although Rauch is the only openly gay speaker, and one of the few ...
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or
other inappropriate comments or material will be removed
from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned
or contain "signatures" by someone other than
the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take
steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards,terms
of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing
this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries
and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content
that you post.
