CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- At the heart of the national debate on same-sex unions is a fundamental disagreement on the nature of marriage, said a participant in a recent discussion at Harvard Law School.<\/p>\n\tArguments in favor of redefining marriage are simply \u201cwrong about what marriage is,\u201d explained debater Sherif Girgis.<\/p>\n
\tHe added that enshrining same-sex \u201cmarriage\u201d in law \u201cwould be harmful for the common good, and in particular for the common goods that get government involved in marriage in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tGirgis is a law student at Yale Law School as well as a PhD. candidate at Princeton University. He recently co-authored the book \u201cWhat is Marriage\u201d alongside Professor Robert George of Princeton University and Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n
\tChallenging him in the debate was Professor Andrew Koppelman, who teaches law and politics at Northwestern University.<\/p>\n
\tThe discussion, sponsored by the Harvard Federalist Society, was held at Harvard Law School on Jan. 31 and aired on C-SPAN on Feb. 19.<\/p>\n
\tKoppelman presented arguments in favor same-sex \u201cmarriage\u201d and criticized Girgis\u2019 book for being \u201cso novel and esoteric,\u201d joking that the audience of Harvard Law students was \u201cstill trying to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe added that \u201cmarriage is not essentially anything,\u201d saying that social norms by nature \u201cevolve,\u201d and that marriage is no different.<\/p>\n
\tGirgis, however, observed that nearly every government and society throughout history have been involved in regulating marriage.<\/p>\n
\tGovernments typically do not regulate intimate relationships such as friendships, he noted. Marriage is an exception, he said, because it is an institution that offers key services to society, namely the provision, care and education of a new generation of citizens.<\/p>\n
\tIt is because of \u201cthe social need to promote those stabilizing norms\u201d that governments oversee marriage, he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tGirgis also warned of the social harm that would follow a redefinition of marriage, saying that in debates on this topic, people should be aware of the \u201cimplications for the future, and for future marriages in particular.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tWhile no-fault divorce was hailed as an acceptable and harmless way of ending high-conflict marriages, the author said, \u201cit changed people\u2019s understanding of what they were getting into\u201d and resulted in an end to many medium-conflict unions.<\/p>\n
\tThe causalities of this arrangement were children who experience split homes or were raised with an absent parent, he said.<\/p>\n
\tThe normalization of same-sex unions \u201cteaches that mothers and fathers are replaceable in terms of parenting\u201d and will likely lead to an increase in children who do not know at least one of their biological parents, he observed.<\/p>\n
\tGirgis critiqued \u201cthe main vision of marriage\u201d espoused within society that defines marriage as primarily an emotional union.<\/p>\n
\tHe explained that while it is consistent for that view to accept same-sex partnerships as marriage, that view is unable to explain \u201cless controversial features that we all agree set marriage from other bonds,\u201d such as monogamy and exclusivity.<\/p>\n
\tFurthermore, he said, in making emotion the determining characteristic of marriage, there is no reason for it to require a \u201cpledge of permanence,\u201d and there is no logical reason to prevent marriage from being extended to multiple partners or non-sexual partners who share an emotional bond.<\/p>\n
\tInstead, Girgis suggested a definition of marriage based upon \u201ccomplementarity,\u201d or the ability of spouses to bear and raise children, saying that this definition of marriage with the family at its core explains other attributes associated with the institution, such as permanence, monogamy and the sexual relationship of the spouses.<\/p>\n
\tHe said that the common contemporary understanding of marriage \u201csuggests that the norm of sexual complementarity is arbitrary,\u201d but if one accepts that a man and woman\u2019s ability to bear children is unnecessary for the institution, \u201cthen so is permanence, so is monogamy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn addition, Girgis commented on the appeal of redefining marriage as a way to combat anti-gay bias and unjust discrimination against those who have same-sex attractions.<\/p>\n
\tWhile he agreed that injustice must be countered, he warned against using marriage to do so, cautioning that such a move would have devastating harmful consequences.<\/p>\n
\tRather than changing the definition of a timeless and foundational social institution, he said, \u201cI think the answer to bullying is to fight bullying, the answer to prejudice is to affirm the equal dignity of every human being.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
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Washington D.C., Feb 27, 2013 \/ 04:09 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- At the heart of the national debate on same-sex unions is a fundamental disagreement on the nature of marriage, said a participant in a recent discussion at Harvard Law School.<\/p>\n
\tArguments in f…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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