Marriage & Family

Continued Advocacy

By Justin Katz | November 15, 2009 |

As expected, the Providence Journal Sunday edition marks the fourth out of the last five days that the gay-funeral/governor-veto story has landed on the front page, this time with the personal story, by Randal Edgar, of Mark Goldberg, one of the advocates for the legislation. Goldberg’s experience with the current law was terrible — so…

Did Somebody Mention Propaganda?

By Justin Katz | November 14, 2009 |

Curious to note that today marks the third time in four days that the Providence Journal has run the governor-as-bigot story on the front page. And unless I’ve missed it, the paper’s reporters have yet to indicate that they’ve any interest in disrupting that there is nobody in Rhode Island whose views fall within any…

As Maine Goes….

By Marc Comtois | November 4, 2009 |

Maine became the 31st state to reaffirm via popular vote (and agree with President Obama) that marriage is between a man and a woman. The contrast was really between the coast and the inland/north. A look at the vote breakdown by county reveals that, in the end, the coastal counties of Cumberland (dominated by Portland…

Looks Like a Turnaround

By Justin Katz | November 4, 2009 |

We’ll hear all sorts of contradictory analyses, in the days to come, among which will be assurances that there are no broad conclusions to be drawn, but key votes up and down the East Coast, yesterday, certainly don’t disprove the notion of a turnaround toward our nation’s Republican, conservative strain: Republican Chris Christie took the…

Fathers as Biological Stimulus

By Justin Katz | November 2, 2009 |

One can only extrapolate so much from this news, but it’s certainly interesting — especially given various discussions of family types: Conventional wisdom holds that two parents are better than one. Scientists are now finding that growing up without a father actually changes the way your brain develops. German biologist Anna Katharina Braun and others…

A Difficult Judgmentalism

By Justin Katz | November 2, 2009 |

While by no means condoning his behavior, some commenters decline to judge the lifestyle of George Holland, which Marc described on Thursday. Writes Joe: I don’t know – it seems the guy was genuinely liked by these women [with whom he fathered children] – they probably wouldn’t all get on the same page to fabricate…

Marriage Is a Social, Procreative Institution

By Justin Katz | October 7, 2009 |

In the current issue of The RI Catholic Fr. John Kiley has a worthwhile counterpoint to the pro-SSM event that I covered last night. Unfortunately, Fr. Kiley’s essay doesn’t appear online, but the he captures the gist in the following: … Nowadays marriage has become almost entirely a matter of personal relationships. Marriages are supposed…

Marriage from Their Perspective

By Justin Katz | October 7, 2009 |

Yes, I still have video to post from the afternoon session of the Republican Northeast Conference, as well as from John Loughlin’s healthcare forum in Tiverton, but since RI Future‘s Brian Hull was at last night’s same-sex marriage event, as well, a competitive streak spurred me to secure initial bragging rights for coverage. (I say…

Taking in the Other Side

By Justin Katz | October 6, 2009 |

Maybe it’s a creeping infection of journalistic curiosity, spurred on by the purchase of an inexpensive camcorder and a new addiction to YouTubing, but I decided to come to the panel discussion hosted by the RI Young Democrats and some college student lawyer groups on The Future of Same-Sex Marriage in Rhode Island. I’ll say…

The Extremists Among Us

By Justin Katz | September 15, 2009 |

An editorial in the latest RI Catholic takes state Democrat Chairman Bill Lynch to task for calling Governor Carcieri a “sectarian extremist” for associating with the Massachusetts Family Institute. More germane, I’d say, are the following paragraphs from an op-ed in the previous issue by Michelle Cretella and Arthur Goldberg: As for the premises, first…