Rutgers Panel Will Examine The Constitutionality Of Marriage Defense Act, Same-Sex Marriages
Save The Date: Sept. 19, 11:30 a.m.
“QUERY: Is the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) constitutionally defensible and should states recognize same-sex marriages?”
On Sept. 19, that controversial question will be debated as part of the Constitution Day program at Rutgers University in Newark. Several panelists will discuss issues raised by, and challenges to, the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman. The program, which is free and open to the public, takes place from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the Paul Robeson Campus Center, 350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., in the Multipurpose Room. The first 100 attendees will receive a free copy of the U.S. Constitution in honor of the 224thd anniversary of the document’s signing.
Rutgers School of Law –Newark Professor and Herbert Hannoch Scholar Carlos Ball will moderate the panel, which includes:
• Assistant Chancellor Mark Winston, Rutgers University-Newark;
• Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, Haley Gorenberg;
• National Organization for Marriage, Damon Owen;
• NJ Family Policy Council,- Greg Quinlan;
• RU Pride, Rutgers University-Newark, Donovan Linder;
• Newark Pride Alliance, Darnell Moore
An audience Q & A will follow; refreshments will be served.
This is Rutgers-Newark’s seventh annual program marking Constitution Day, an American federal observance that recognizes the completion of the drafting of the United States Constitution in 1787. The Constitution was adopted when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document the following year. The federal law establishing Constitution Day was created in 2004; previously it was known as “Citizenship Day.”
