Campus to celebrate 'Freedom to Marry' Day

Valentine’s Day is not the only day this week during which people will celebrate the ones they love.

Friday marks the 13th annual Freedom to Marry Day — a holiday that promotes the right of people to marry whomever they want, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

In commemoration of this day, Penn’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the Christian community have come together to plan two very different, but equally engaging events.

The first will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. in the LGBT Center.

The Center will be hosting a dinner and conversation with Reverend Chris Glaser, author of As My Own Soul: The Blessings of a Same Gender Marriage.

Glaser was the first gay intern at Penn’s Christian Association in the 1970s.

He was also involved in starting the first LGBT Counseling Center on campus, according to Katherine Primus, the executive director of the Christian Association.

The Christian Association, in conjunction with the LGBT Center and the Queer Christian Fellowship, brought Glaser to speak on this particular day because of the nature of his book, according to College senior Danielle Heitmann, co-chair of QCF and a staff member at the Christian Association.

In As My Own Soul, Glaser argues that same-gender marriage does not detract from the sacredness of heterosexual marriage, but rather enhances it.

Both the LGBT and the Christian communities are excited about Glaser’s relevance to their group, said Primus, who hopes that having Glaser as the speaker will make the event accessible to a wider audience.

“I think being able to talk with Chris would be meaningful even if you aren’t Christian,” she said.

Thursday’s event is meant to remind the LGBT community that despite religious opposition to same gender marriage, “not every Christian feels that way,” according to Primus.

In addition to the dinner, the LGBT community will be hosting “Get Hitched for Freedom to Marry Day” — an event to be held at 2 p.m. on Friday in the Terrace Room of Claudia Cohen Hall.

The event, which was put together by the Queer Student Alliance, is a part of this year’s Women’s Week.

Getting “married” in Cohen Hall will only take ten minutes, according to College sophomore and co-chair of QSA Quintin Marcus.

Afterwards, newlyweds can enjoy a slice of wedding cake and sign a few petitions — including one to repeal Proposition 8, the California bill opposing the amendment allowing same-sex marriage.

Friday’s event is meant to “keep alive the fact that LGBT people are still fighting for the right to marry,” College sophomore and outreach co-chairman of QSA Thadeus Dowad said. “But at the same time, we really want it to be fun and light-hearted.”

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