Not About Gay Rights: Same Sex Marriage (Huffington Post)

Body

Image
As the Supreme Court hears arguments challenging the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, Dartmouth’s Sonu Bedi, an assistant professor of government, writes in a Huffington Post opinion piece that the justices are “hearing the wrong argument.” Bedi says, “The same sex marriage debate should not be about gay rights but about the hallowed separation of church and state.”

Bedi contends that there is, “An easier way to strike down bans on same sex marriage, a way that avoids the gay rights rhetoric. Simply put, such bans violate the separation of church and state. They violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause that requires that government ‘shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.’“

Read the full opinion piece, published 3/26/13 by the Huffington Post.

Office of Communications