Subject: IWG Chicago Tribune letter Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 17:06:37 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Purdom The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 2 congregations, 4 religious organizations and 21 clergy from 9 denominations. If you are in the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in other areas. Visit the web page at http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/ February 6, 1996 The Chicago Tribune 435 N. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60611 Dear Editor: Lawrence F. Burtoft fails to argue convincingly against same-sex marriage in his commentary "Quit Experimenting With Marriage." He asks whether it is "a unique and irreplaceable social good, deserving of state-sanctioned protections and benefits;" whether couples who commit "themselves publicly to mutual care and responsibility, to sexual fidelity and to the care and nurture of the children they may bear deserve the special favor of society;" and whether children "need and deserve the distinctive influence which only the combination of a father and mother can provide." The answer to the first two questions is definitely yes, and the extension of the institution of marriage to same-sex couples is definitely good and reinforces these notions; Burtoft, however, claims that the answer to all these questions must be "no" if same-sex marriage is legalized, even though only his last assertion requires a heterosexual union. Two falsehoods that opponents of same-sex marriage would have everyone believe are: 1) that marriage is only for raising children, and 2) that children can only be raised by a (married) heterosexual couple. Once again, the reason the Radical Right wants to restrict the rights of gays is another addle-brained attempt to "protect" children from homosexuality; the truth is that children who grow up in a society with same-sex as well as heterosexual marriage will see nothing wrong with homosexuality, a development that is as terrifying to Burtoft and Focus on the Family as it is inevitable. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators