Same-sex marriage will be the topic of discussion at Cal State Long Beach’s fourth annual celebration of Constitution Day this year.
The event is sponsored by the communications studies department’s Center for First Amendment studies, the political science department and the journalism and mass communication department. It will take place at 4 p.m. on Tuesday in the Karl Anatol Center.
At the event, Craig Smith, director of the Center for First Amendment Studies, and Kevin Johnson, a research director at the center, will discuss the constitutionality of same-sex marriage and the cases leading up to it, according to Smith and Johnson. They will also analyze the Supreme Court’s ruling on California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Smith will give a presentation on the history and evolution of marriage law and earlier cases concerning Prop. 8 and DOMA, which led up to the Supreme Court’s decision this year.
Johson said that among the landmark court cases to be discussed are Loving v. Virginia, a case that dealt with law prohibiting interracial marriage, as well as Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas, both of which dealt with sodomy laws.
“This is not a debate,” Smith said. “The event is informative. We are taking a stand, just explaining what the Supreme Court rulings mean and where we are on same-sex marriage federally and at the state level.”
Johnson, who has spent much time researching and publishing about the First Amendment and the same-sex marriage debate, will discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling.
He will also discuss First Amendment issues surrounding same-sex marriage and the cases on Prop. 8 and DOMA.
“I think it is important to create a sense of awareness about our Constitution and its contemporary questions,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the event’s goal is to provide an educational forum that covers the history and evolution of the American Constitution.
“Being aware of the policies that govern us, participating in the deliberation over those laws and when necessary, changing or abandoning those laws in order to better our civilization and learning about the Constitution is vital to such activity,” Johnson said.
There are expected to be approximately 75 attendees at the event, Johnson said. The presentations will be followed by a Q-and-A session.
