Receptive audience hears warnings on same-sex marriage

Legal and sociology scholars critical of gay marriage warned state lawmakers on Wednesday night that allowing same-sex couples to wed in Hawaii could weaken traditional marriage, influence the curriculum at public schools and threaten religious liberty.

The mainland scholars appeared at an informational briefing at the state Capitol hosted by Rep. Bob McDermott and Rep. Gene Ward, two Republicans who oppose gay marriage, as the state Legislature prepares to debate a marriage equality bill next week in a special session.

While the purpose of the briefing was to provide a forum to discuss the potential consequences of gay marriage, the political effects on the state House will likely be limited, since few other lawmakers attended and the audience mostly consisted of opponents of gay marriage.

The other lawmakers who joined the hosts — Rep. Richard Fale, a Republican, and Reps. Karen Awana and Tom Brower, both Democrats — have already indicated their positions. Fale and Awana will likely vote against the bill; Brower will likely support the bill.

Rep. Jo Jordan, a Demo­crat who has said she is undecided, stood at the back of the hearing room taking occasional notes.

The briefing offered the scholars a friendly, uncritical platform for their views.

"Calling same-sex unions marriages will not confer upon those relationships the benefits that come from the gender integration of a man and a woman in the union that we call marriage," said Lynn Wardle, a Brigham Young University family law professor.

Phil Lees, a former teacher who leads the Family Coalition Party in Ontario, Canada, predicted that if same-sex marriage becomes legal in Hawaii, gay rights advocates will pressure public schools to teach students about homosexuality and the concept of "gender fluidity." He warned that students could be exposed to graphic depictions of homosexual sexual practices.

"This is what’s coming," Lees cautioned.

Byron Babione, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based group that advocates religious liberty, called the religious exemption in the draft of gay marriage bill before the Legislature "appalling" and a threat to religious freedom.

"For the first time in the history of civilization, public policy is now permitting and condoning the idea that it is just as well to deprive children of either their mother or their father. That’s what same-sex marriage does, doesn’t it? It deliberately deprives a child of either his father or mother," he said. "And if you’re not willing to lend your time, talent, your business to that idea, then you’re going to be labeled a bigot, deserving of punishment under the processes of the state."

Mark Regnerus, a University of Texas sociology professor who has published controversial research on same-sex parenting, told lawmakers that children of same-sex couples are more likely to encounter a host of maladies than children from homes where there is a mother and father. He said the difference is not about sexual orientation, but gender. He noted, however, that the research is relatively new and based on a small population of same-sex couples with children.

"Gender matters. It matters for relationships. It matters for children," he said. "Moms and dads may well be unique in their influence on children, and not interchangeable."