Two Reverends Give Competing Views of Christianity and Marriage (1994)

Opposition to marriage equality often came from conservative Christians, but not all Christians opposed marriage for same-sex couples. This episode of Dialog, a call-in show that aired on PBS Hawaii in 1994, sheds light on the complex role religion could play in the debate. The Hawaiian Supreme Court had recently ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, and this episode gathered four panelists, including two Christian reverends, to comment on the issue. The first speaker, an Episcopal minister named Layton Zimmer, argued that same-sex marriage promoted social stability, and more generally, that acceptance of gay and lesbian people aligned with the Christian message of love. The second speaker, Reverend Ron Arnold (of Kaimuki Christian Church, a non-denominational church) channeled arguments often associated with the Christian conservatism: that the government should uphold traditional morality rather than normalizing a sinful behavior like homosexuality. Both reverends reference anxieties about sexual behavior that were often expressed in the early 1990s. Zimmer notes that gay men were often criticized for being promiscuous rather than monogamous, while Arnold laments the “disintegration of the family.”

Dialog; Same-Sex Marriage | KHET : Honolulu, HI | February 11, 1994 | This video clip and associated transcript appear from 19:47 - 24:15 in the full record.