Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 23:35:10 -0500 From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG Salt Lake marriage letter December 26, 1999 The Salt Lake Tribune PO Box 867 Salt Lake City, UT 84110 Dear Editors: Your December 24 editorial in favor of the Vermont Supreme Court decision missed a major point: While the logic of the Vermont decision is transferable to other states, a state-specific legal relationship is not transferable. Civil marriage creates a nationally-recognized legal relationship between two otherwise unrelated consenting adults of different genders, regardless of their races or religions, and regardless of society’s racial and religious sensibilities and prejudices. Many individuals and religious institutions define marriage in such a way that it does not include gender; they already “call these relationships marriage” whether or not you think it is “politically feasible at this point.” The majority religious definition may include gender, but majority religious beliefs never justify unequal treatment of minorities. Creating massive new legal categories for relationships in every state (but not at the Federal level) rather than just removing gender from the marriage laws does not give “access to the same privileges as similarly-situated opposite-sex couples.” Sincerely, Barbara Lamond Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators The above letter was sent on IWG letterhead listing 17 congregations and religious organizations and 62 clergy from 16 religious traditions. You can show your support by wearing an Interfaith Working Group shirt: http://www.iwgonline.org/clothes/ -- Interfaith Working Group PO Box 11706 Philadelphia, PA 19101 http://www.iwgonline.org/ iwg@iwgonline.org voice: 215-235-3050 fax: 215-232-0829