The article “Weighing Both Sides of Gay Marriage” by Emily Kelly contains unfortunate factual errors. For example, Ms. Kelly spoke of “[t]he recent Supreme Court ruling on Proposition 8 in California [that] held to the Conservative side.” Contrary to Ms. Kelly’s assertions, the most recent decision on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 came from a federal district court—not the Supreme Court—and the same-sex couples in the case prevailed.

I wish Ms. Kelly had better researched same-sex marriage litigation before writing her article. Interestingly, she purported to weigh both sides of the debate, but failed to address the main arguments that have been made by either side in court. Also, the author uses labels such as “conservative” with disregard for detail. The fact that Ted Olson, the renowned conservative attorney, serves on the legal team challenging Proposition 8 suggests that support for same-sex marriage defies simplistic labels such as “liberal” and “conservative.”

Sincerely,

Holning Lau

Associate Professor of Law

UNC School of Law