Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 01:04:46 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Purdom Subject: IWG Leroy Aarons response The following went out on Interfaith Working Group letterhead (2 congregations, 4 religious organizations and 14 clergy). October 18, 1995 The Philadelphia Inquirer PO Box 8263 Phila., PA 19101 Dear Editors: Thank you for printing Leroy Aaron's October 17 Op-Ed piece about marriage. confirming a natural order of male-to-female commitment" shows a confusion between Radical Right groups like the Family Research Council and most Americans. Marriage began as a way for ownership of a woman to officially pass from her father to her husband. Two partners of the same gender in a marriage will force us to question traditional gender roles, and so the same groups that felt threatened by the U.N. Women's Conference are now fighting same-sex marriage. Mr. Aaron says that "arguments for such marriages may be convincingly couched -- the right to equal tax benefits, health insurance rights and so on." Rather than enumerate the rights of marriage, we should be asking the same question as the Hawaii Supreme Court: Is there anything about marriage that should inherently limit it to opposite-sex couples? While the Religious Right would have us believe that the removal of such a limitation somehow nullifies existing opposite-sex marriages, it would actually force us to recognize that marriage in our country has evolved from an institution based upon unequal gender roles into an expression of equal love and a commitment to family. Just because many couples have not actually progressed to having an equality-based relationship doesn't mean other couples should be prevented from doing this with the full sanction of the law. Families have come in all shapes and sizes for quite some time. To the dismay of those who would make themselves the sole arbiters of "family," the "quantum revision of the social contract" Mr. Aaron believes is required for acceptance of this next logical step in the evolution of marriage actually occurred long ago, and the impending legalization of same-sex marriage is now a catalyst for the acceptance of true family values. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators