A Friday panel discussion featuring supporters of gay rights saw two of its most prominently advertised figures turn out as no-shows. Jason West, the mayor of New Paltz, N.Y., who faces criminal charges for performing 25 same-sex marriages, was supposed to headline the event, but instead cancelled his appearance.
Keith Boykin '87, an influential figure in the same-sex marriage debate within the black community and a former editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth, was also unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances.
The three panelists who did appear on the panel represented a diverse spectrum of viewpoints about the legalization of gay marriage.
Steve Swayne, a Dartmouth music professor, recommended civil unions as a viable option for the gay community, saying that civil unions would include all the legal benefits entailed with marriage and would be sponsored by the government. To be married, he said, a couple would have to receive the blessing of its religious group.
"You want legal protections? Get a civil union. You want marriage? Go to your faith community," Swayne said.
David Chambers, an emeritus professor at the University of Michigan Law School, similarly backed this viewpoint, advocating civil unions over gay marriage as a more realistic goal.
Though he called Swayne's proposal was very good idea, Chambers questioned its plausibility.
"His position has a lot of good sense, but there's no chance that the state will stop granting marriage licenses," he said, emphasizing that civil unions for gays and lesbians does not mean inferiority.
Beth Robinson '86, the lawyer who argued a case in the Vermont Supreme Court that resulted in the first law legalizing civil unions, expressed the need for same-sex marriages, representing a more controversial stance.
She outlined five key reasons why civil unions fall short of the ultimate statement of equality for same-sex couples. One of the main reasons for marriage as opposed to civil unions, is the recognition by the community as being married -- being married itself is a benefit, Robinson said.
Another Dartmouth graduate, Matt Daniels '88, is known for advocating the Defense of Marriage Act, a constitutional amendment that would make illegal same-sex marriage throughout the United States. He explains his stance as pro-family as opposed to anti-gay, and wants a strict definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.
As a black man, Swayne attended segregated schools, and noted his unhappiness with the civil rights analogy.
"Until we see visible and inferior treatment of persons joined in civil union, I think it's more than a stretch to use the language of separate but equal. It is an insult," he said. "More to the point, I resent the notion that I must rely upon the state to give me social standing of this kind."
Swayne also addressed the division between the black community on the issue of same-sex marriage. Blacks have traditionally been more socially conservative, in being strictly against same-sex marriage, though they are more politically liberal. Swayne worries about the response of the black community as a result of the same-sex marriage debate.
"Right now, we are pushing black leaders into the welcoming embrace of conservative whites. This galls me," he said.
