Maggie Gallagher and Andrew Sullivan
will debate gay marriage on April 4 in Lexington, Virginia.
Gallagher, the co-founder and former
president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the
nation's most vociferous opponent of gay marriage, and Sullivan, the
former editor of The New Republic and the blogger behind The
Dish, will face off starting at 6PM in Lee Chapel on the campus
of Washington and Lee University.
The debate is being hosted by Outlaw
and the Federalist Society, two Washington and Lee University School
of Law student groups.
Under Gallagher's leadership, NOM
worked to pass California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, and
repeal a gay marriage law in Maine.
Most recently, Gallagher's talking
points have included calling marriage equality supporters intolerant.
“What they've done now is that
they've stopped trying to persuade people that gay marriage is a good
idea,” she said at an event organized by the socially conservative
group Sutherland Institute. “What they are doing is raising the
cost of speaking out … by directing a relentless torrent of
accusations and hatred against anyone who speaks, no matter how
civilly, for marriage.”
Sullivan, who is openly gay, will
present the conservative case for gay marriage.