LETTER TO THE EDITOR

RE: Attention broadcast journalism students! 9/14

To the editor:
I was so amused by the news brief on the Fox News Channel (FNC) College Challenge that I momentarily thought it must be April Fool’s Day. FNC sponsoring a contest where students must submit an “objective” broadcast news story is akin to Fidel Castro sponsoring a contest for student essays on human rights.

Mike Rosenthal
Class of 1978

RE: Gay marriage argument not as simple as it seems, 9/14

To the editor:
In The Hurricane’s last issue, Don Donelson argued that, instead of an amendment banning gay marriage, there should be a constitutional amendment so that states can decide whether or not to recognize the gay marriage licenses of other states. He is attacking Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution, which affirms that records in one state must be recognized by all others. Why should states only have the option of denying another state’s gay marriage licenses; why not allow Florida to choose not to recognize all marriages, straight or gay, made between 2 and 5 a.m. in Las Vegas chapels?
To argue that, “marriage is, historically, a religious entity” in this country is plainly false. Our government does not group “together a religious occasion and a legal proceeding;” religious people do. And why single out gay marriages? If civil and religious marriages are indeed “irreconcilably different,” why hasn’t an amendment to outlaw marriage between atheists been proposed? Perhaps the problem is nomenclature; why not simply change the name of civil marriage to “civil union” for all couples?
Imagine if Mr. Donelson’s bizarre proposal were reality. Legally wed gay couples would have to be careful where they vacation; if Adam were to be injured, would Steve’s insurance cover him in a state that did not recognize gay marriage? Gay couples do not want to run down the aisle of your local church; they want the same tax breaks, inheritance rules, and benefits that straight couples enjoy.
A truly conservative and human approach to this issue is to allow gay marriages; conservatives have been advocating this for over a decade (see Andrew Sullivan’s “Here Comes the Groom” in the Aug. 28, 1989(!) edition of The New Republic). The issue at hand is not religious in nature; rather it is about equal protections under the law.

Joshua Arcurio