Same-Sex Marriage and Public School Curricula: Preserving Parental Rights to Direct the Education of Their Children
![handle is hein.journals/udlr32 and id is 367 raw text is: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND PUBLIC SCHOOL
CURRICULA: PRESERVING PARENTAL RIGHTS
TO DIRECT THE EDUCATION OF THEIR
CHILDREN
Charles J. Russo*
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and
be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.'
As reflected in the preceding passage from the Bible, since the
earliest days of the Judaeo-Christian era, with Judaism leading the way as
the first major religion to include monogamy as part of its fundamental
tenets,2 marriage has been defined as a union between one man and one
woman.3 Moreover, even though polygamy, polyandry, and open marriage
have occasionally been in vogue,4 until recently there has been little serious
discussion of the possibility of marriage between two members of the same
sex, commonly referred to as same-sex marriage. Yet, spurred by social and
judicial5 activists, talk of same-sex marriage has been wide-spread in recent
years, especially in academic journals, the popular press, and media.
* B.A., 1972, St. John's University; M. Div., 1978, Seminary of the Immaculate Conception; J.D., 1983,
St. John's University; Ed.D., 1989, St. John's University. Panzer Chair in Education and Adjunct
Professor of Law, University of Dayton. The author would like to express his thanks to Dr. David
Dolph; Rev. Dr. Joseph Massucci; and Dr. A. William Place at the University of Dayton; Dr. Ralph
Sharp at East Central (OK) University; Rev. Dr. Paul Babie at the University of Adelaide, Australia; Dr.
Frank Brown at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Mr. William E. Thro, Solicitor
General, Commonwealth of Virginia for the useful and insightful comments on drafts of this manuscript.
The author would also like to thank Mrs. Ann Raney, the Librarian in the Curriculum Materials Center at
the University of Dayton, for her gracious assistance in helping locate citations for articles that appear in
a variety of footnotes.
1 Genesis 2:24. The same quote also appears at Matthew 19:5-6, Mark 10:7-8, and Ephesians 5:3; a
similar version appears at 1 Corinthians 6:16.
2 See e.g. the Seventh and Tenth Commandments, respectively: Thou shalt not commit adultery and
[t]hou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his
manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. Exodus
20:1-7; Deuteronomy 5:1-22.
3 See e.g. Oxford English Dictionary, Marriage, http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/
00302422?querytype= (revised March 2000) (the definition reads, The condition of being a husband or
wife; the relation between persons married to each other; matrimony.).
4 For a discussion of some of these issues, see e.g. Larry CatA Backer, Religion as the Language of
Discourse of Same Sex Marriage, 30 Cap. U.L. Rev. 221 (2002); Judith E. Koons, Just Married?
Same-Sex Marriage and a History of Family Plurality, 12 Mich. J. Gender & L. 1 (2005); Cheshire
Calhoun, Who's Afraid of Polygamous Marriage? Lessons for Same Sex Marriage Advocacy From the
History of Polygamy, 42 S.D. L. Rev. 1023 (2005).
' See Goodridge v. Dept. of Pub. Health, 798 N.E.2d 941 (Mass. 2003) (holding that limiting the
protections, benefits, and obligations of marriage to individuals of opposite sexes lacked a rational basis
in violation of the commonwealth's equal protection principles); In re Same-Sex Marriage, [2004] S.C.R.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/udlr32&div=23&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Same-Sex Marriage and Public School Curricula: Preserving Parental Rights to Direct the Education of Their Children
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