What about the children?
ADF hosts panel discussion Friday on children’s interests in marriage
Thursday, Apr 23, 2015
Attorney sound bite: Caleb Dalton
WHO: Caleb Dalton, Katy Faust, Donald Paul Sullins, Eric Teetsel
WHAT: Panel discussion: “What about the children? A closer look at some of the child-focused arguments raised by friends of the court”
WHEN: Friday, April 24, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. EDT
WHERE: Alliance Defending Freedom, 440 First St. NW, Suite 600, Washington
WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom is hosting a panel discussion Friday on the interests of children and the issue of same-sex marriage.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges and three other marriage cases consolidated with it considering the question of whether the U.S. Constitution requires states to recognize same-sex marriage. A number of briefs filed with the high court address the impact on children if the court opts to impose a redefinition of marriage on the entire nation.
“The people should be free to pass laws consistent with their views on what is in the best interest of children,” said Caleb Dalton, a litigating attorney in the Center for Marriage and Family at ADF who will participate in Friday’s panel. “Good social science indicates that children benefit most from a home with both their mom and dad. That is a sufficiently compelling reason to allow states to affirm man-woman marriage.”
ADF and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month in the marriage cases. The brief was one of more than 60 briefs filed with the court in support of the freedom of states to affirm marriage as the union of one man and one woman in their laws.
“Government’s interest in marriage is children. Therefore, marriage law ought to reflect the reality that every child is born to a mother and father and that children have a natural right to a relationship with both parents,” explains panelist and Fulbright Scholar Katy Faust in her friend-of-the-court brief, which is based on her experience as the child of a parent in a same-sex relationship. “Children suffer emotional harm when they lose a relationship with one or both parents, which is categorically the case when they are raised by a same-sex couple.… Two loving women cannot replace a missing father. And two loving men cannot replace a child’s mother. Government should institutionalize and promote only the family structure that ensures children’s rights and well-being are protected.”
Other participants in the panel discussion include Dr. Donald Paul Sullins, social-science scholar and associate professor in the Department of Sociology at The Catholic University of America, who joined a friend-of-the-court brief filed on behalf of the American College of Pediatricians, and Eric Teetsel, executive director for The Manhattan Declaration.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
WHAT: Panel discussion: “What about the children? A closer look at some of the child-focused arguments raised by friends of the court”
WHEN: Friday, April 24, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. EDT
WHERE: Alliance Defending Freedom, 440 First St. NW, Suite 600, Washington
WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom is hosting a panel discussion Friday on the interests of children and the issue of same-sex marriage.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges and three other marriage cases consolidated with it considering the question of whether the U.S. Constitution requires states to recognize same-sex marriage. A number of briefs filed with the high court address the impact on children if the court opts to impose a redefinition of marriage on the entire nation.“The people should be free to pass laws consistent with their views on what is in the best interest of children,” said Caleb Dalton, a litigating attorney in the Center for Marriage and Family at ADF who will participate in Friday’s panel. “Good social science indicates that children benefit most from a home with both their mom and dad. That is a sufficiently compelling reason to allow states to affirm man-woman marriage.”
ADF and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month in the marriage cases. The brief was one of more than 60 briefs filed with the court in support of the freedom of states to affirm marriage as the union of one man and one woman in their laws.
“Government’s interest in marriage is children. Therefore, marriage law ought to reflect the reality that every child is born to a mother and father and that children have a natural right to a relationship with both parents,” explains panelist and Fulbright Scholar Katy Faust in her friend-of-the-court brief, which is based on her experience as the child of a parent in a same-sex relationship. “Children suffer emotional harm when they lose a relationship with one or both parents, which is categorically the case when they are raised by a same-sex couple.… Two loving women cannot replace a missing father. And two loving men cannot replace a child’s mother. Government should institutionalize and promote only the family structure that ensures children’s rights and well-being are protected.”
Other participants in the panel discussion include Dr. Donald Paul Sullins, social-science scholar and associate professor in the Department of Sociology at The Catholic University of America, who joined a friend-of-the-court brief filed on behalf of the American College of Pediatricians, and Eric Teetsel, executive director for The Manhattan Declaration.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
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