Case Study: State Representative Nancy Hetherington, a Democrat from Cranston, Rhode Island, is the lead sponsor of a bill to make same-sex civil unions legal. Although these unions would not be called marriages, and would employ a different license, they would carry with them much the same legal and economic rights and responsibilities that traditional marriages do. If the bill is signed into law, Rhode Island will become the second state (after Vermont) to legalize same-sex unions.
As part of her campaign for the passage of the bill, Rep. Hetherington wrote an opinion piece for the Providence Journal, in which she publicly acknowledged for the first time that she is a lesbian. In the article, she argues that civil unions are important to her because “they mean having the same concerns for my family as everyone else has,” and that she wants to “see those I love protected by every means legally available to me.” Opponents to passage of the bill claim that, in effect, it will legalize marriage between homosexuals. Even though the unions aren’t called marriages, they argue, they resemble traditional marriage in every other way, and ought not be permitted. UPDATE: Gov. Pat Quinn in November 2013 put his signature on a historic measure making Illinois the 16th state to allow same-sex marriage, capping a 40-year push for gay rights that picked up major momentum during the past decade.
http://www.lambdalegal.org/states-regions/illinois#quickset-regional_offices_information=1
Evaluate the legalization of the sort of same-sex unions described above with respect to what we have learned about ethical theory: What would a utilitarian say about such a law? what would natural law theory state?
*****Think about Richard Gula’s personalistic approach as you answer this question:
*****Source Needed: Reason informed by Faith – foundation of Catholic Morality by Richard Gula
Then comment on the recent Supreme Court rulings. Use this video as a take-off point for this comment:
Landmark High Court Decisions, Reaction, and Analysis; One Million Bones
