Religious Panel at USU to Discuss Same-sex Marriage

A diverse religious panel will discuss perspectives of same-sex marriage Tuesday, Nov. 2, as part of the Center for Women and Gender lecture series at Utah State University. The panel discussion is from 1-3 p.m. at the Taggart Student Center auditorium on USU’s campus.

 

Students, faculty, staff and members of the community are invited to attend the free panel discussion “Gays and Marriage: Religious Perspectives.” Panel members include practicing representatives from the Episcopalian, Buddhist, Roman Catholic, Latter-day Saint, Jewish and Hindu traditions.

“We realize we don’t have all possible religions represented and many will argue that we should have had an atheist on the panel,” said director for the Center for Women and Gender Ann Austin. “But this panel is an important step in understanding the diverse points of view around this very sensitive topic.” 

Austin hopes the conversation will continue after the panel and believes USU students are genuinely supportive of giving the topic broad and thoughtful coverage.

Austin said Phil Barlow, endowed chair of Mormon Studies in the Department of History, and Camille O’Dell, director of the School Counseling program in the Department of Psychology, worked extremely hard to develop this panel. 

“If students are interested in knowing what other religions think about the topic of gay marriage, I hope they will attend the panel discussion,” Austin said.  

Panel members include the Rev. Susan Springer of St. John’s Episcopal Church; Michael Sowder, associate professor of English; Dr. Vikram Garg, gastroenterologist and internist; Harrison Kleiner, adjunct assistant professor of philosophy; William Duncan, director of the Marriage Law Foundation; and Rabbi Ilana Schwartzman of the congregation Kol Ami in Salt Lake City. 

 

Writer: Storee Powell, storee.powell@aggiemail.usu.edu