Published: Monday, February 18, 2008

Anti-gay-marriage group has it wrong

Steven Cable has it completely backwards regarding same-sex marriage and its effect on children and families ("Traditional marriage chafes UVM," Feb. 10). He says that "the overwhelming evidence demonstrates that children do best, on average, when raised by their biological parents." He continues to argue that "the burden of proof is on same-sex marriage proponents to provide evidence that replacing such traditional man/woman marriage with genderless marriage will not prove harmful to society or children."

 Wrong. The burden of proof in this matter lies with the opponents of same-sex marriage. Despite the fact that Cable cites Dr. Pat Fagan and Professor Monte Stewart as "world renowned experts," their "expertise" on this matter has no scientific basis. Dr. Fagan and Professor Stewart base their conclusions on religious grounds, just as "creationists" attempt to disprove evolution by citing other "world renowned experts."

Either Prof. Barbour never looked at the VMAC site and materials, or he has deliberately engaged in deception and fabrication to distract from the primary arguments being presented. There are absolutely no statements of a religious nature anywhere on this site, nor in any of the statements or presentations of Dr. Fagan or Prof. Monte Stewart. Prof. Barbour’s allegations are nothing short of irresponsible. 

All of the statements contained on this site, as well as those found in Dr. Fagan’s and Prof. Stewart’s presentations are based on the accumulated and widely accepted knowledge in the fields of social science and legal jurisprudence. Dr. Fagan’s statements are based on thousands of studies, and generally reflect the current majority opinion of the top researchers in his field. Prof. Stewart’s legal analysis is based on Constitutional law and what are referred to as the “facts of marriage;” that is the set of undisputed legal facts which pertain to marital laws in the United States. It is not coincidence that Prof. Stewart’s legal arguments have met with unprecedented undefeated success (10-0) in Appellate level court cases dealing with the importance of traditional marriage. 

Prof. Barbour’s claim that “there is no scientific basis” for either Dr. Fagan’s or Prof. Stewart’s statements is beyond bizarre - it is pure fantasy. We suggest the reader visit our responses to Dr. Moss and Prof. Weinstock for additional information.

There is simply no scientific evidence to support the notion that same-sex marriage and parenting is harmful to anyone. University of Vermont President Dan Fogel is to be praised for condemning the narrow-minded bigotry of groups like the Vermont Marriage Advisory Council.

JAMES R. BARBOUR

Shelburne

The writer is professor emeritus of human development and family studies at UVM.

“No scientific evidence??” We would reiterate that, as briefly mentioned by Dr. Fagan (see Weinstock response) All same-sex parented families are defined by deprivation, and nearly all are characterized by rejection of at least one biological parent by the other (often accompanied by rejection of the child by a mother or father) (see details)

We submit that this is not subject to reasonable dispute. As noted elsewhere, rejection is one of the most potent drivers of psychological stress, and quite possibly the most prevalent causal factor in the majority of social and psychological problems today.

It is astounding that Prof. Barbour would accuse VMAC of bigotry for expressing concerns about the welfare of children and society. We would also politely note the definition for bigot is one who is “utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.” We invite the reader to carefully analyze the contents of this site, and compare to statements from Prof. Barbour for anything which fits this definition. 

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