“The Definition of Marriage”: Do you know?

On September 9, 2011 a man on a mission for a controversial issue visited the University of Oklahoma by request of the Department of Philosophy. Professor John Corvino from Wayne State University came to introduce students and faculty to the “Definition of Marriage.” Professor Corvino spoke of the argument between Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) supporters and New Natural Lawyers (NNL) regarding same-sex unions and why calling them “marriages” is such an issue.

Oklahoma does not rank in the top 10 of the United States by percentage of LGBT population. This may be due to the fact that Oklahoma is not among the states where same-sex marriage has been legalized and also does not validate same-sex marriage licenses from any other state. For this reason, Professor of Philosophy Martin Montminy and the department thought it a good idea to invite Professor Corvino to raise awareness of the debate. “The kind of issue that he addresses is not your typical, mainstream issue that philosophers like to talk about. It’s a kind of issue that we rarely discuss in philosophical circles so that was the thing that I thought was interesting.” Professor Corvino spoke to an audience of about 50 OU students and faculty.

According to the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA, an estimate of “about 5.8% of the American population identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender” as of this year. What Professor Corvino did was to take main points of both supporters of same-sex marriages and the NNL from articles and produce counterexamples. Professor Corvino himself never explicitly stated his personal association with either group. Supporters of civil unions being called marriages have a revisionist view, which says “marriage is an emotional union of two people of any sex who commit to mutual care and who may engage in whatever sexual acts they find mutually agreeable.” The NNL support a conjugal view, that “marriage is a comprehensive union between a man and a woman consummated by reproductive-type acts which unite them biologically, an thus personally.” After the lecture, Professor Corvino hosted an open question-and-answer forum to discuss some of the issues he had addressed. Philosophy Graduate Student Sammuel Robert Byer commented that he “thought Professor Corvino was extremely charitable to the articles that he was referring to and the question-and-answer section was good.”

In most states across the country that do not acknowledge same-sex marriage licenses, same-sex couples are denied certain benefits. One of those that Professor Corvino addressed was if one partner is rushed to the hospital and the other tells the staff that he or she is married to the patient, they can still be denied the opportunity to enter the room. Professor Corvino explained that the way to avoid this issue until these states acknowledge same-sex marriages is to carry a Durable Power of Attorney, in this instance for health care. Therefore, there are limited opportunities for same-sex couples to receive these benefits anyway, if they have the right materials.

Although the lecture topic was out of the ordinary for OU, for some students that just wasn’t enough. Jarred White, a senior in Multidisciplinary Studies who attended the lecture, wished there had been another expert in the room, maybe on the other side of the argument, to help tie up loose ends. “I think you could have had a more definitive, somewhat closure. Obviously, you never simply convert everyone in the room to one belief, but you can have a more complete rounding of opinions of two people who are on equal footing as far as their knowledge of a given subject.” There are frequent opportunities to listen to speakers on campus, which means that many chances for OU to find a way to better reach students about the topics that interest them.