Fear and tradition are the primary driving forces for the anti-gay marriage movement, said Will Carlson, manager of public policy for Equality Utah.
At the Hinckley Institute of Politics forum Friday, Carlson sparred with Phil Duncan, the director of the Marriage Law Foundation and a former visiting law professor at Brigham Young University, about gay marriage and the legal arguments for and against it.
Carlson, a Salt Lake City lawyer, said there are three main court cases since the 1960s that have upheld the right for anyone to marry, including prison inmates.
“The Supreme Court has recognized that marriage is a fundamental right, to which we are all entitled,” Carlson said.
The court case Loving v. Virginia in 1967 overruled state laws banning interracial marriages and prison inmates were proven to have the right to marry in the 1987 case Turner v. Safley.
“As a result of Turner v. Safley, someone of death row, who will never get out of prison, has a fundamental (right) to get married, and I don’t because I’m a gay man,” Carlson said. “Keeping marriage from gay and lesbian couples is a modern scapegoat. It’s a way to avoid addressing the real issues of marriage such as divorce (and) child abuse.”
Historically, marriage has been a states’ rights issue, but some members of both sides are arguing that these federal rulings supersede state laws.
Duncan said the issue is complex legally because different courts have different rulings based on their state’s constitution.
“Our constitution presupposes that there are standards that are uniform and constituent that apply to everyone and are apprehensible,” Duncan said. “My concern is that in civil-rights cases, or cases that build themselves as civil-rights cases, that sense of the rule of law is being undercut.”
Duncan said marriage is a function of procreation and though marriage has evolved over time, the primary function of the union is to produce and nurture children.
Although he said he does not support gay marriage, he does support the Common Ground Initiative, a series of laws intended to give gay couples equal rights.
Rondell Nelson, a political science major, said he agrees with Carlson and said America is about equal opportunity, and marriage should not be an exception.
“I think everybody has the fundamental right to be married,” Nelson said. “No matter what sexual orientation they are.”
Robert Piper, a political science major, said he believes marriage is sacred and meant for a man and a woman.
“I’m against giving the title “marriage’ to same-sex couples, but I have nothing against the issues the Common Ground Initiative is working for this legislative session,” Piper said.
Nick AndrewWill Carson and Phil Duncan spoke and then took questions about same-sex marriage during a Hinckley Forum Friday morning.