Distinguished constitutional lawyer Gene Schaerr filed a brief recently in the Obergefell same-sex marriage case in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of more than 100 American university professors. One of the brief signers was Utah Valley University President Matthew Holland, a former political science professor. Now Holland has been wrongly criticized for signing the brief.
First, it is laudable that Holland (and the other signers) took a stand in defense of conjugal (male-female) marriage at a time when there are many powerful pressures in society, and especially in the academic world, to either support same-sex marriage or to keep quiet. Holland and the other signers showed great personal courage by taking a public position in favor of the preserving the important public institution of marriage in the lawsuit. Such integrity enriches our universities, our local community and the entire state.
Second, Holland has set a great example for the college students at UVU and other universities in Utah by taking a stand on the issue of the meaning of marriage. Such courageous willingness to take a position that is very likely to result in personal attacks (as we have seen) teaches students and other citizens an invaluable lesson about the obligations to make hard decisions that come with positions of respect and responsibility. Our state and our nation would be better off if more leaders showed such civic-minded attention to such issues.
Third, the meaning of marriage is one of the defining issues of this generation. How marriage is defined makes a tremendous difference for all individuals, families and for society. The shared understanding of marriage has huge implications for virtually all facets of our lives. Just as the disintegration of any particular marriage usually has profoundly negative effects upon the members of that family, the disintegration of the social conception of marriage has tremendously harmful potential effects for our entire society. Holland was right to recognize this.
I honor Holland and the 100-plus other scholars who signed Schaerr's brief in defense of marriage. Another group of 54 international and comparative law scholars filed another brief opposing same-sex marriage. It explained how very few nations (less than nine percent of countries in the world) have legalized same-sex marriage, and how only one nation, Brazil, did so by judicial ruling rather than legislative process.
We should honor our public officials like Matthew Holland who do not just keep quiet and hide in the tall weeds when such critical issues are being decided.
Lynn Wardle is the Bruce C. Hafen professor of law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.
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