Mark Grisanti, Republican New York State Senator from Buffalo, New York has just become a relevent figure to the fight in New York State for equal marriage. According to Buffalo News, his vote is critical to passing the bill to legalize gay marriage in New York State which is soon to be put before the State Senate. Grisanti, a Catholic, is reportedly undecided about how he will vote on the issue, but whichever way he chooses, that vote is likely to be a tie-breaker.
As one Catholic New Yorker to another, I recently wrote Senator Grisanti a letter in which I informed him on the reasons that I thought he, as a Catholic elected official, should support same-sex marriage in New York. Then I informed him that I would be publishing those reasons on Suite 101.
As a future lawyer I am a firm believer in marriage as a civil and human right that should be afforded to all consenting adults who petition for that right. But I also believe this as a Catholic and a human being. I gave Grisanti in that letter what I will give you today - three reasons that a Catholic elected official should support same sex marriage.
First, our Catholic faith does not conflict with gay marriage. A number of theologians and church leaders disagree with the current teachings of the Catholic Church on homosexuality. In his book, "a Question of Truth," the late Dominican priest Gareth Moore put forward the argument that the Bible does not state that homosexuality is sinful or misguided and that homosexuality is as blessed by God as heterosexuality. Other leaders in the Catholic Church, including Sister Margaret Farely of Yale Divinity School condemned for her promotion of equality in Catholic World News, and French Catholic Bishop Jacques Gaillot, featured by the BBC for attending a gay rights demonstration. I can likewise testify that I am not the only Catholic that I know who supports same-sex marriage – I have many devout Catholic friends who object to the current teachings on homosexuality coming out of Rome. Among these, are several Catholic priests, and yes, even one Bishop who will not be named. Each of these clergy speak of their views in private only for fear of losing their jobs. Nevertheless, an entire network of gay-rights friendly Catholics can be found through Call to Action, an organization of progressive Catholics pushing for reform within the Catholic Church on issues such as same-sex marriage.
Second, as you know divorce is rather frowned upon under current Catholic dogma – but this is good news for same-sex couples because a number of studies show that they have lower rates of divorce than different-sex couples and as a result could bring down the overall divorce rate. Four years after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, the divorce rate dropped in that state to levels not seen in the United States since 1940, according to the Huffington Post. Pink News, the largest Gay and Lesbian news service in the United Kingdom, found that of the 24,629 civil partnerships and marriages of same-sex couples filed in England and Wales between December 2005 and December 3007, only 245 filed petitions for a dissolution by July 2008. This makes the 1% rate of same-sex rate of separation far better than the 45% divorce rate for the rest of the heterosexual United Kingdom.
Third, New York is a very Catholic State that is ready for same-sex marriage. With the second largest raw number of Catholics of any state in the country according to beliefnet’s estimation, New York is a state where the majority supports same-sex marriage. A Quinnipiac University poll taken this year found 56 percent of New Yorkers support legalizing gay marriage, according to the Associated Press. That's up from the 53 percent that Reuters reported supported it in 2009. Those numbers are only headed in one direction - up. As USA Today reports, young people aged 18 to 25 support gay marriage far more than people 25 and older - making inevitable an eventual super majority of New Yorkers that will support gay marriage in the future.
The official Canon of the Catholic Church has changed a number of times over the centuries. As a Catholic I believe our Church will eventually change again. The teachings of the Catholic church of the 21st century, I hope, will affirm that love between people of the same sex is as blessed by God as love between people of different sex. It’s then that I hope the world’s Catholics will find it easier, without any imagined spiritual resistance, to support the human right to equal marriage. I hope that Senator Grisanti will not only share this vision of a more inclusive Catholic Church, but will take a step toward making it a reality when he votes next week.
- Green, John "State-by-State Percentage of White Evangelicals, Catholics, and Black Protestants," beliefnet.com [accessed 6/17/11]
- Graw, Tony, "Less than 1% of civil partnerships end in 'divorce'” Pink News (Aug. 7, 2008)
- Wilson, Bruce, "Divorce Rate in Gay Marriage-Legal MS Drops to Pre-WWII Level," Huffington Post (Sept. 3 2009)
- Moore, Gareth, "A Question of Truth: Christianity and Homosexuality," Continuum, New York (2003).
- "Bishops Lead Assault on Church Teaching," Catholic World News (March 20, 1997)
- Willey, David "Bishop's gay conference ban," BBC (July 2, 2000)
- Call to Action Website, Call to Action: Catholics working together for Justice & Equality [accessed 6/16/11]
- "Poll: Majority of New Yorkers support legalizing gay marriage," Associated Press (Jan. 27, 2011)
- Honan, Edith "Broad support for New York gay marriage bill: poll" Reuters (Apr. 20, 2009)
- Jayson, Sharon, "Gen Y's attitudes differ from parents'" USA Today (Jan. 9, 2007)
- Precious, Tom "Gay marriage bill may hinge on Grisanti," Buffalo News (June 14, 2011)
Steven Sacco - Steven Sacco is a law student at Albany Law School, and a Masters of Social Work student at the State University of New York at Albany. He ...
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