Student organizations at the University of Houston Law Center are sponsoring a debate on the issue of “Defining Marriage” today as a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California is set to issue its ruling on that state’s ban on gay marriage.
The Law Center debaters are Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, founder of the Ruth Institute, a project of the National Organization for Marriage Education Fund, and Mitchell Katine, local counsel in Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned sodomy laws in the United States. The noon debate is sponsored by the Federalist Society and Outlaw.
California joined the vast majority of states in outlawing same-sex marriage in 2008, when voters passed the ban known as Proposition 8. A federal judge in San Francisco struck down Proposition 8 in 2010, and gay marriage opponents appealed that ruling to the 9th Circuit. Regardless of how the court rules today, opponents and supporters of same-sex marriage both have said they are ready to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
The debate is scheduled for noon today in room 109 BLB at the Law Center.
| WHAT: | Debate - "Defining Marriage" |
| WHO: | Jennifer Roback Morse, founder of the Ruth Institute, and Mitchell Katine, local counsel in Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned sodomy laws in the United States. |
| WHEN: | Noon, Feb. 7, 2012 |
| WHERE: | University of Houston Law Center, room 109 |
| MEDIA CONTACTS: | Carrie Criado, Executive Director of Communications and Marketing, cacriado@central.uh.edu, 713.743.2184 or John T. Kling, Communications Manager, jtkling@central.uh.edu, 713.743.8298 |