Guide written by Nancy Palmer Jones.
Guide also available in PDF format (requires
free reader).
Updates to the Guide in PDF format (requires
free reader).
This guide was adapted from
At Issue: Marriage, Exploring the Debate over Marriage Rights for Same-Sex Couples, published by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). The complete 6-lesson guide is available from the GLSEN Bookstore at
www.atlasbooks.com/glsen or 1-800-247-6553.
Contents
In What is Marriage For?: The Strange Social History of our
Most Intimate Institution, E.J. Graff describes marriage as "a kind of Jerusalem, an archaeological site on which the present
is constantly building over the past, letting history's many layers
twist and tilt into today's walls and floors." Indeed, the institution
of marriage has changed dramatically over the centuries to reflect
evolving understandings of family, money, sex, love and power. Graff
traces Western marriage customs and rules of law from their emergence
in ancient times to the present.
Although many of the rules we consider to be "tradition" in marriage
are surprisingly recent, dissenters have often claimed that changes
in marriage laws would lead to "disease and the collapse of marriage,
the family, children, . . . morality, and civilization itself." But marriage persists, though constantly redefined. Western law
since 1800 has increasingly supported sexual and emotional choice,
and same-sex marriages inevitably progress from this movement. Graff
explains why so many same-sex couples think the time is right to
make a public claim to this institution.
This program will encourage your congregation to share ideas about
evolving notions of marriage. The objectives of this program are:
- to investigate historical beliefs and practices with regard to
marriage;
- to explore modern marriage customs and laws, and the belief system
inherent in them;
- to examine attitudes toward marriage of same-sex couples against
current beliefs about the purpose of marriage; and
- to develop a personal definition of marriage (both what it is
and why we do it).
During the discussion sessions, participants will examine laws
and customs of bygone eras to better understand underlying beliefs
and assumptions. They will also explore current practices to determine
the extent to which these practices reflect modern values and assumptions
about marriage. Finally, they will consider how a faith community
can honor each individual spirit as we "live up to the rigorous
demands of love."
The Beacon Press Discussion Guides for Unitarian Universalist
Congregations aim to reflect and reinforce the Principles and Purposes
of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
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Promote the Program
Many congregations have a number of resources for publicizing
new programs in the community. It is always a good idea to create
flyers and post notices on bulletin boards and in newsletters. Announcements
could also be made during meetings and services. You might consider
targeting specific groups to embark on this journey. For example,
your congregation's couples group might use this program to explore
personal definitions of marriage. Some congregations promote new
programs by organizing "Kick-off Sundays," which include a sermon
by a minister or lay leader about a topic related to the program.
Adjust the Format as Needed
This program calls for participants to conduct brief interviews,
read What Is Marriage For?: The Strange Social History of Our Most
Intimate Institution, by E.J. Graff, write journal entries, and
take part in two 90-minute discussion sessions. (The format can
be adapted to one session.) We recommend a group size of no more
than twelve people.
Provide a Comfortable Space
Hold the sessions in a comfortable, well-lit setting, preferably
with cushioned chairs arranged in a circle. Some discussions will
be carried out in small groups (3-4 people), so it is important
to find a space that will enable uninterrupted discussion for small
groups as well as for the larger group. The discussion sessions
call for information to be recorded on newsprint, so you will need
adequate wall space or easels to display what has been written.
Involve the Group in Setting the Tone
Make it clear to participants that everyone must take responsibility
for creating an environment that is welcoming and conducive to open
dialogue. Bring to the group's attention the importance of active
listening, thoughtful responses and mutual respect.
Some people have a tendency to be more vocal than others. If a
few people clearly dominate the conversation, you might need to
open a space for those who have not had a chance to speak to do
so if they wish.
As a discussion leader it is important to establish a balance between
too much control and too little direction. It will be important
to be responsive as you facilitate the discussion and draw people
out, yet keep the discussion on track.
We suggest that the group draft a set of ground rules at the beginning
of the first session, post them on newsprint, and review them at
the beginning of the second session. If all participants give input,
everyone will be accountable to the group's needs. Ground rules
might include such items as: maintain confidentiality-don't repeat
personal stories outside of the group; give full attention to the
person who is speaking; turn off pagers and cell phones; and so
forth.
Prepare for the First Session
Well in advance of the first session (3-4 weeks prior), let participants
know that their homework assignment will entail the following:
1. Read What Is Marriage For?
2. Poll at least three people, and to write down their responses
to these questions:
What is marriage?
Why do people marry?
Remember to photocopy enough of HANDOUTS #1 and #2 for everyone
to have a copy during the first session. Also, you might ask volunteers
to provide refreshments and perhaps a light snack.
Evaluate the Program
Two evaluation forms are provided in the last pages of this guide. Participant Evaluation Forms should be distributed at the end of the final session so participants can give feedback to group leaders. (Note that questions 7 and 8 on the form give leaders a chance to pose their own questions to participants.) Also, be sure to send Beacon Press your completed Leader Evaluation Form. We are striving to meet the program needs of UU congregations, and your continued feedback and suggestions will bring us a long way toward reaching our goal. We really want to hear from you!
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SESSION I (90 minutes)
Materials: Copies of HANDOUTS #1 and #2 for each participant,
newsprint, markers, pens, and masking tape
Opening and Check-In: (15 minutes) Welcome participants
and make sure everyone knows where to find restrooms, water, a telephone,
etc. Introduce the program, allowing time for people to ask basic
questions. Circulate a sheet of paper and ask everyone to write
down their contact information for your records.
Both sessions will begin with a general check-in. In this first
session, participants should introduce themselves and briefly state
their expectations for the program.
Ask a volunteer to record on newsprint as participants determine
ground rules for participation in this group (see "Getting Started").
Post the rules and review them at the beginning of the next session.
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Defining Marriage and Its Purpose (25 minutes) As mentioned
in the "Getting Started" section, participants should be given the
following homework assignment 3-4 weeks before the first session:
Read What Is Marriage For?, by E.J. Graff, then poll at
least three people and to write down their responses to the questions,
What is marriage? and Why do people marry?
Activity: Divide participants into groups of 3-4 to share
the ideas they gathered from the interviews. Though the questions
may initially seem simple and straightforward, they are deceptively
complex and will likely elicit a broad range of responses. After
about 10 minutes of discussion, ask each group to write on a piece
of newsprint a definition of marriage that reflects their beliefs
about the purposes and meanings of the institution. As each group
finishes, ask them to post their definition on the wall. Invite
participants to take a "gallery walk" to survey the statements that
each group developed. If time permits, allow participants to respond
to one another's definitions, and to further explore the meaning
of marriage.
Break: (10 minutes)
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Evolving Understandings of Marriage (30 minutes) For the
moment, set aside the group definitions of marriage. Note that thoughts
about marriage have changed dramatically over the centuries as people's
ideas about love and sex, money and power have developed. Examining
past marriage practices and laws can provide us with some interesting
insights into evolving understandings of the purposes of marriage.
Have participants break down into small groups (3-4) again, but
encourage them work with different people as often as possible.
Give each participant a copy of HANDOUT #1-Evolving Understandings
of Marriage and the accompanying chart (HANDOUT #2).
Assign each group 1 or 2 of the items on the sheet. (Alternatively,
cut the sheet into strips and hand 1 or 2 strips out to each group).
Inform participants that the sheet (or strips) describes marriage
laws or customs from a variety of cultures and eras. Inherent in
each law or custom is a set of attitudes or beliefs about the purpose
of marriage in that time and place.
Challenge participants to list as many attitudes as they can discern
from the stated law/custom. For example, dowry requirements presume
an understanding of marriage as an economic venture. Prohibitions
of contraception and abortion point to understandings of marriage
primarily as a vehicle for procreation. And interracial marriage
bans support the idea that marriage is a way to perpetuate one's
race, presumably with the dominant race considering itself to be
superior to others. When participants have finished, allow time
for them to share their ideas with the larger group.
Preparation for the Next Session: (5 minutes) Tell participants
that their assignment for the next session will consist of a journal
entry reflecting their answers to the question below:
Graff refers to the right-wing assertion that marriage is "one
single thing"-the union between one man and one woman. Do you agree
with this definition? Why or why not? Do you view marriage, as we
currently know it, as an institution to be preserved, or do you
feel that it should change with the times? How would the definition/rules
impact society?
Note that this is for participants' private reflection, and will
not be turned in or shared.
Closing Circle: (5 minutes) Joining hands, invite participants
to share the first thing that comes to mind when they think of marriage,
be it a song, poem, memory or humorous thought.
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SESSION II (90 minutes)
Materials: Copies of HANDOUTS #3 and #4 for each participant,
newsprint, markers, pens and masking tape
Check-In: (5 minutes) Ask participants to take a moment
to meditate and center, breathing deeply and bringing themselves
completely to the room. Briefly review the ground rules.
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Modern Understandings of Marriage (30 minutes) Have participants
separate into groups of 3-4, encouraging them to join individuals
that they have yet to work with. Ask the groups to discuss the questions
posed on HANDOUT #3-Modern Understandings of Marriage.
After about 15 minutes of discussion, have participants reassemble
as one large group, and ask:
What are some of the ways in which modern understandings of marriage
differ from those we discussed in the first session?
Elicit laws or customs that participants feel are reflective of
current marriage practice and underlying values. List each on newsprint.
For example, they may point out that many couples choose to live
together prior to getting married, that married couples file tax
returns jointly, or that some couples choose not to have children.
These practices reflect the ideas that marriage requires compatibility,
economic interdependence, and that marriage is first and foremost
about love-not procreation. If no one brings it up, list the fact
that marriage is legally defined as the union between a man and
a woman, that marriage of same-sex couples is not legally recognized
in any of the 50 states. Ask participants to consider whether this
law is consistent with the attitudes/beliefs about marriage that
they have listed.
Break: (10 minutes)
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Attitudes toward Same-Sex Marriage (20 minutes) Continue
the discussion by asking the following questions:
If marriage is primarily a reflection of love, spiritual devotion,
economic commitment, and so forth, is it justifiable to exclude
individuals from the institution based upon sex/sexual orientation?
Just as we have changed marriage laws to incorporate modern ideas
about birth control, gender equality, and divorce, is it time again
to amend the institution to protect the rights of sexual/gender
minorities?
How deeply do we as a congregation support and affirm the needs
and rights of sexual/gender minorities?
How can we as a faith community grow in our effort to honor each
individual spirit as we "live up to the rigorous demands of love," particularly in regards to marriage customs and laws within our
congregation and in the larger society?
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Revisiting Our Definitions (10 minutes)
After participants have had ample time for discussion, ask them
to revisit the definitions of marriage that they wrote in the first
session. In their original small groups, ask them to consider whether
or not their ideas about the meaning and purposes of marriage have
shifted as a result of the class discussion. Give each group the
option of revising their original definitions to incorporate new
understandings. Re-post and share these statements before the session
ends.
Closing Circle: (10 minutes)
Have participants gather together and join hands, and ask each person
to offer an appreciation about the person standing to her/his left
side.
Evaluations: (5 minutes)
Distribute Participant Evaluation Forms (HANDOUT #4). Ask participants
to complete them and return them to you.
For further reading, we recommend the following
Beacon books:
Here Lies My Heart: Essays on Why We Marry, A Beacon Anthology,
1999.
In the Name of the Family: Rethinking Family Values in the
Postmodern Age, by Judith Stacey, 1996.
Homophobia: How We All Pay the Price, Warren Blumenfeld,
ed., 1992.
A More Perfect Union: Why Straight America Must Stand Up for
Gay Rights, by Richard D. Mohr, 1994.
Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue, by Leslie Feinberg,
1998.
Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis
Rodman, by Leslie Feinberg, 1996.
Our Chosen Faith, by John Buehrens and Forrest Church,
1998.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the following people for their support on
this project:
Guide Author: Scott Hirschfeld, Director of Education, Gay,
Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN);
Consultants: Cynthia Breen, Director of Religious Education/UUA
and William Sinkford, Director for Congregational, District, and
Extension Services/UUA;
Guide Reviewers: Judith Frediani, Curriculum Development
Director/UUA, Keith Kron, Director of the Office of Bisexual, Gay,
Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns/UUA and Makanah Morris, Co-Minister,
Unitarian Universalist Church of Cheyenne.
We are grateful for assistance from the Pacific Southwest and Southwest
Districts and for support from the Unitarian Universalist Veatch
Program at Shelter Rock.
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Evolving Understandings of Marriage
1. In many societies, members were forbidden to marry outside the
tribe, clan, culture, or religion, while marriage within the family
was considered accept-able. The ancient Hebrews, for example, enforced
strict rules against marrying foreigners, but had only the barest
of rules against marrying within the family. The Romans allowed
first cousins to marry, and early Germanic clans gave the nod to
uncle/niece marriages.
2. For centuries, and in many different parts of the world, marriage
could not take place without a dowry-the money, goods, or estate
that a woman brought to her husband in marriage, or a gift of money
or property by a man to or for his bride. In 1425, the city of Florence,
Italy, even launched a savings-bond institution in which a family
could invest for a daughter's future dowry with returns of up to
15.5% compounded annually, with both capital and interest paid to
the husband after consummation.
3. For centuries, the most enduring slave systems-including the
Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, medieval Germans, and Americans-denied
legal recognition to slave marriages.
4. In many cultures, polygamy (marriage in which a spouse may have
more than one mate at the same time) has been commonly practiced
for centuries. At one time, Jewish law required a man whose first
wife did not bear a child within ten years to marry another-with
or without divorcing the first. In many African and Middle Eastern
cultures, polygamy is still practiced today.
5. In the 1700s and 1800s, many laws extended the biblical idea
that a hus-band and wife become "one flesh." In British law, a 1765
statement by Lord Blackstone read, "In law husband and wife are
one person, and the husband is that person." This meant that a wife
could own no personal property, make no personal contracts, and
bring no lawsuits. The husband took over her legal identity-a concept
called "coverture," because his identity "cov-ered" hers.
6. Before the 20 th century, contraception (deliberate prevention
of conception or impregnation) was widely viewed as immoral within
the institution of marriage (especially in the West and among Christians).
The 1876 book Conjugal Sins insisted that contraceptive attempts "degrades to bestiality the true feelings of manhood and the holy
state of matrimony." During a period of escalated anti-contraception
feelings and backlash laws in the 19 th century, more than half
of the states in the U.S. enacted laws that criminalized and prevented
any sex acts that "made love without making babies."
7. In 1850, Indiana's State Legislature passed the most open divorce
law the United States had ever known. It stated that judges could
grant divorce for any reason at all-not just under conditions of
adultery, attempted murder, or other extreme circumstances. Though
scandalous at the time, divorce has become a common and acceptable
practice within mainstream American society.
8. In 1948, the California Supreme Court led the way in challenging
racial discrimination in marriage and became the first state high
court to declare unconstitutional an anti-miscegenation law (miscegenation
means a mixture of races, especially marriage or cohabitation between
a white person and a member of another race). In 1967, the United
States Supreme Court struck down the remaining interracial marriage
laws across the country, and declared that the "freedom to marry" belongs to all Americans.
9. In 1976, the West German Civil Code was revised to eliminate
traditional matrimonial phrases requiring "husbands to support wives"
and "wives to obey husbands." It now reads "The spouses are mutually
obliged to ad-equately maintain the family by their work and property…."
10. In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Missouri prison's
refusal to allow its inmates-convicted felons, "people who couldn't
vote much less support their wives or future children"-to marry,
since "inmate marriages, like others, are expressions of emotional
support and public commitment…having spiritual significance."
11. In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples
are entitled to “the benefits and protections afforded persons of
the opposite sex who choose to marry.”
In 2000, the Vermont Legislature passed the nation’s first “civil
unions” Act. However, the Act was written as a compromise and civil
unions remain separate and unequal to civil marriage.
12. In November 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
ruled that the Commonwealth “failed to identify any constitutionally
adequate reason for denying civil marriage to same-sex couples.” In February 2004, State Legislators were unable to pass a constitutional
amendment that would ban same-sex marriages.
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Evolving Understandings of Marriage (Chart)
Handout #1 describes marriage laws and customs from a variety of
cultures and eras. Inherent in each law or custom is a set of attitudes
or beliefs about the purposes of marriage in that time and place.
For each law/custom, list as many underlying beliefs as you can
identify.
Example:
Law/Custom: The German guilds didn't allow a man to become a master
and run his own business unless he had a wife.
Underlying Attitudes:
Marriage was a way to acquire a business partner
Marriage was a complete plan of labor.
Beliefs: All men were expected to marry.
Law/Custom #_____
Underlying Attitudes/Beliefs:
Law/Custom #_____
Underlying Attitudes/Beliefs:
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Modern Understandings of Marriage
In her book, Graff refers to the "infamous 1950's marriage model" that was common during her parents' youth. What was that model and
what were its limitations and/or beliefs? In what ways do the values
of those times impact our current attitudes toward marriage?
Graff points out that 20th century economic independence has brought
heightened choice and freedom with regard to marriage. To what extent
do you believe young people today are truly free when it comes to
marriage? What modern pressures, constraints and obligations operate
upon individuals in today's world?
Civil and religious marriage has long existed side by side. Regardless
of any change in civil marriage law, each religion will remain free
to determine its own rules for marriage. Think about other issues
that have been divided along secular/religious lines. Can we reasonably
expect civil law to reflect varied religious perspectives?
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Handout
4
How do we define civil rights?
“Civil rights are any of the civil liberties guaranteed by the
13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution and by the Civil
Rights Acts. Most often, civil rights refer to protections against
discrimination on the basis of race, gender, national origin, and
in some cases, sexual orientation. Civil rights laws, in general,
apply to public institutions such as public housing, government
employment, or public accommodations, and not to private institutions
or individuals, unless they are acting under government authority.”1
Given the inclination of modern Western law, and the definition
above, would you consider civil marriage a civil right?
The Massachusetts Constitution states that, “all people are born
free and have certain natural, essential and unalienable rights;
among which may be reckoned…that of seeking and obtaining their
safety and happiness. Equality under the law shall not be denied
or abridged because of sex, race, color, creed or national origin.”
1. “Civil Rights Law.” Legal Database.com.25 Feb. 2004 http://www.legal-database.com/civil-rights-overview.htm.