Maggie Gallagher
Encyclopedia
Margaret Gallagher Srivastav (born September 14, 1960), better known by her working name Maggie Gallagher, is an American writer, commentator, and opponent of same-sex marriage
. She has written a syndicated column
for Universal Press Syndicate
since 1995, and has published five books. She serves as president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, a nonprofit organization which lobbies on issues of marriage law. She is a former president and former chairman of the board of the National Organization for Marriage
, which opposes same-sex marriage
and other legal recognition of same-sex partnerships.
, where she attended Lakeridge High School
. She has three siblings: Kathleen, William Jr., and Colleen.
In 1982, she earned a B.A.
in Religious Studies from Yale University
, where she belonged to the Party of the Right
in the Yale Political Union
. On October 6, 2010, she returned to the Union to debate against same-sex marriage with opponent Evan Wolfson
, executive director of Freedom to Marry. Gallagher married Raman Srivastav in 1993 and they have one son together. Gallagher also has a son born out of wedlock from a previous relationship.
at the University of Chicago
. Gallagher serves as president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, a conservative think tank
whose slogan is "strengthening marriage for a new generation." She was also President of the National Organization for Marriage
from its founding until 16 April 2010, when Brian S. Brown
took over that role. She maintains a position on NOM's executive committee.
, a November 2009 ecumenical statement calling on Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.
and believes that Roe v. Wade
should be overturned. She believes that most people who support legal abortion do so reluctantly because they think it is a necessary evil.
, the Death with Dignity Act or voluntary euthanasia
. Currently assisted suicide
is legal in the states of Oregon
, Montana
and Washington. There have been cases in other states which were decided by federal circuit judges, such as the Terri Schiavo
case in Florida. Gallagher was particularly troubled by the Terri Schiavo case and was a vocal opponent to the decision to remove Schiavo from life support. She believes that state approved suicide diminishes the value of life, especially for the elderly, sick or vulnerable.
Gallagher advocates litigation against spouses who commit adultery and opposes laws which facilitate no-fault divorce
.
Gallagher has written that "[w]e need a social institution, endowed with public authority, that teaches young men and women...that they need to come together in love to raise the children their bodies make together. If this is a core purpose of marriage, then same-sex unions are not marriages. If gay unions are marriages, then this is no longer what marriage is about."
community, specifically gay men, choose to oppose what they label as the "heteronormative" constraints of a monogamous relationship
, with reference to Eric Erbelding's assertion that the married gay couples he knows are "for the most part monogamous, but for maybe a casual
three-way".
Gallagher also opposes legal recognition of domestic partnerships and civil unions, and she believes that domestic partner benefits "erode the status" of heterosexual marriage. She has stated that same-sex marriage is worse than polygamy, which, "for all its ugly defects, is an attempt to secure stable mother-father families for children". Gallagher believes that same-sex attraction is not a choice but that the decision to act on that desire and to incorporate it into one’s identity is a choice that bears moral reflection. She believes that "sexual desire is not its own justification" for acceptance or legal recognition of same-sex relationships. She has also written that "once the principle [of same-sex marriage] is in the law, the next step will be to use the law to stigmatize, marginalize, and repress those who disagree with the government’s new views on marriage and sexual orientation", and as an example she has cited efforts by LGBT advocates to revoke the tax-exempt status of churches who politically oppose same-sex marriage.
criticized the fictional television character Murphy Brown
for being an unwed mother, Gallagher wrote an op-ed for The New York Times
, "An Unwed Mother for Quayle", in his defense.
promote the President's Healthy Marriage Initiative. During this time, Gallagher testified before Congress in favor of "healthy marriage" programs, but never disclosed the payments. When asked about that situation, she replied "Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it? I don't know. You tell me. ...frankly, it never occurred to me".
After the Washington Post revealed this information on January 26, 2005, Gallagher claimed significant differences between her situation and that of conservative columnist Armstrong Williams, going on to add that "I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it. My apologies to my readers."
Gallagher received an additional $20,000 from the Bush administration for writing a report, titled "Can Government Strengthen Marriage?", for the National Fatherhood Initiative, a private organization.
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
. She has written a syndicated column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
for Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate, a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, is the world's largest independent press syndicate. It distributes lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Ebert and News of the Weird...
since 1995, and has published five books. She serves as president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, a nonprofit organization which lobbies on issues of marriage law. She is a former president and former chairman of the board of the National Organization for Marriage
National Organization for Marriage
The National Organization for Marriage is a nonprofit political association established in 2007 to work against legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, specifically to pass California Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California...
, which opposes same-sex marriage
Opponents of same-sex marriage in the United States
Opponents of same-sex marriage in the United States include organizations and individuals who seek to prevent or reverse the legalization of same-sex marriage...
and other legal recognition of same-sex partnerships.
Biography
A daughter of William Walter Gallagher Sr. and his wife, the former Darrilyn Doris Stenz, Maggie Gallagher is originally from Lake Oswego, OregonLake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego is a city located primarily in Clackamas County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Small portions of the city are also located in neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located south of Portland surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town was founded in 1847 and incorporated as Oswego in...
, where she attended Lakeridge High School
Lakeridge High School
Lakeridge High School is a public high school located in Lake Oswego, Oregon and opened in 1971.-Academics:In 1987, Lakeridge High School was honored in the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the highest honor a school can receive in the United States....
. She has three siblings: Kathleen, William Jr., and Colleen.
In 1982, she earned a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Religious Studies from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where she belonged to the Party of the Right
Party of the Right (Yale)
The Party of the Right is a fraternal, political, and intellectual organization founded in 1953, functioning secondarily as one of the parties within the Yale Political Union. The POR was founded by genuinely conservative members of the Conservative Party, outraged by the Conservative Party's...
in the Yale Political Union
Yale Political Union
The Yale Political Union , a debate society now the largest student organization at Yale University, was founded in 1934 by Professor Alfred Whitney Griswold , to enliven the university's political culture of the time. It was modelled on the Cambridge Union Society and Oxford Union...
. On October 6, 2010, she returned to the Union to debate against same-sex marriage with opponent Evan Wolfson
Evan Wolfson
Evan Wolfson is an American civil rights attorney and advocate. He is founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry, a group favoring same-sex marriage in the United States...
, executive director of Freedom to Marry. Gallagher married Raman Srivastav in 1993 and they have one son together. Gallagher also has a son born out of wedlock from a previous relationship.
Career
Gallagher has written a number of books, including with co-author Linda J. Waite, a professor of sociologySociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. Gallagher serves as president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, a conservative think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
whose slogan is "strengthening marriage for a new generation." She was also President of the National Organization for Marriage
National Organization for Marriage
The National Organization for Marriage is a nonprofit political association established in 2007 to work against legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, specifically to pass California Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California...
from its founding until 16 April 2010, when Brian S. Brown
Brian S. Brown
Brian S. Brown is an American activist and president of the National Organization for Marriage , a non-profit advocacy organization that works to prevent or overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States.-Activism:...
took over that role. She maintains a position on NOM's executive committee.
Social views
Gallagher is a Roman Catholic and a social conservative. She is a signatory of the Manhattan DeclarationManhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience is a manifesto issued by Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christian leaders to affirm support of "the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty". It was drafted on October 20, 2009 and released November 20, 2009,...
, a November 2009 ecumenical statement calling on Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.
Views on abortion
Gallagher is against abortionAbortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and believes that Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
should be overturned. She believes that most people who support legal abortion do so reluctantly because they think it is a necessary evil.
Views on assisted suicide
Gallagher is opposed to the legalization of assisted suicideAssisted suicide
Assisted suicide is the common term for actions by which an individual helps another person voluntarily bring about his or her own death. "Assistance" may mean providing one with the means to end one's own life, but may extend to other actions. It differs to euthanasia where another person ends...
, the Death with Dignity Act or voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner...
. Currently assisted suicide
Assisted suicide in the United States
Physician-assisted suicide in the United States is legal in the states of Oregon, Montana and Washington.The process is set forth in law, including the requirements that the patient must be of sound mind when requesting assisted suicide, as confirmed by a doctor and other witnesses; and the patient...
is legal in the states of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and Washington. There have been cases in other states which were decided by federal circuit judges, such as the Terri Schiavo
Terri Schiavo
The Terri Schiavo case was a legal battle in the United States between the legal guardians and the parents of Teresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo that lasted from 1998 to 2005...
case in Florida. Gallagher was particularly troubled by the Terri Schiavo case and was a vocal opponent to the decision to remove Schiavo from life support. She believes that state approved suicide diminishes the value of life, especially for the elderly, sick or vulnerable.
Views on marriage
Gallagher is a strong opponent of the legal recognition of same-sex unions, and has written books toward that end. She believes one of the purposes of marriage is always procreation and rearing children exclusively by heterosexual parents, and alleges that same-sex unions diminish the value of heterosexual marriages. Gallagher has compared winning the fight to ban same-sex marriage with the fall of communism and believes that if same-sex marriage is made legal, it will mean "losing American civilization".Gallagher advocates litigation against spouses who commit adultery and opposes laws which facilitate no-fault divorce
No-fault divorce
No-fault divorce is a divorce in which the dissolution of a marriage requires neither a showing of wrong-doing of either party nor any evidentiary proceedings at all...
.
Gallagher has written that "[w]e need a social institution, endowed with public authority, that teaches young men and women...that they need to come together in love to raise the children their bodies make together. If this is a core purpose of marriage, then same-sex unions are not marriages. If gay unions are marriages, then this is no longer what marriage is about."
Views on same-sex relationships
Gallagher believes that many people in the LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community, specifically gay men, choose to oppose what they label as the "heteronormative" constraints of a monogamous relationship
Monogamy
Monogamy /Gr. μονός+γάμος - one+marriage/ a form of marriage in which an individual has only one spouse at any one time. In current usage monogamy often refers to having one sexual partner irrespective of marriage or reproduction...
, with reference to Eric Erbelding's assertion that the married gay couples he knows are "for the most part monogamous, but for maybe a casual
Casual sex
Casual sex or hooking up refers to certain types of human sexual activity outside the context of a romantic relationship. The term is not always used consistently: some use it to refer to any extramarital sex, some use it to refer to sex in a casual relationship, whereas others reserve its use for...
three-way".
Gallagher also opposes legal recognition of domestic partnerships and civil unions, and she believes that domestic partner benefits "erode the status" of heterosexual marriage. She has stated that same-sex marriage is worse than polygamy, which, "for all its ugly defects, is an attempt to secure stable mother-father families for children". Gallagher believes that same-sex attraction is not a choice but that the decision to act on that desire and to incorporate it into one’s identity is a choice that bears moral reflection. She believes that "sexual desire is not its own justification" for acceptance or legal recognition of same-sex relationships. She has also written that "once the principle [of same-sex marriage] is in the law, the next step will be to use the law to stigmatize, marginalize, and repress those who disagree with the government’s new views on marriage and sexual orientation", and as an example she has cited efforts by LGBT advocates to revoke the tax-exempt status of churches who politically oppose same-sex marriage.
Views on sex education
Gallagher believes that teaching abstinence (encouraging celibacy until legally married) should be the sole curriculum. She does not believe in instructing students in birth control or how to prevent STDs through use of condoms or safe-sex techniques. She has advocated discontinuing all safer-sex education in public schools.Views on single parenting
When Dan QuayleDan Quayle
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle served as the 44th Vice President of the United States, serving with President George H. W. Bush . He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Indiana....
criticized the fictional television character Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from November 14, 1988, to May 18, 1998, for a total of 247 episodes. The program starred Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional CBS television...
for being an unwed mother, Gallagher wrote an op-ed for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, "An Unwed Mother for Quayle", in his defense.
Federal contracts
Gallagher received tens of thousands of dollars from the Department of Health and Human Services during 2002 and 2003 for helping the George W. Bush administrationGeorge W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
promote the President's Healthy Marriage Initiative. During this time, Gallagher testified before Congress in favor of "healthy marriage" programs, but never disclosed the payments. When asked about that situation, she replied "Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it? I don't know. You tell me. ...frankly, it never occurred to me".
After the Washington Post revealed this information on January 26, 2005, Gallagher claimed significant differences between her situation and that of conservative columnist Armstrong Williams, going on to add that "I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it. My apologies to my readers."
Gallagher received an additional $20,000 from the Bush administration for writing a report, titled "Can Government Strengthen Marriage?", for the National Fatherhood Initiative, a private organization.
See also
- Michael McManusMichael McManus (columnist)Michael McManus is the author of "Ethics & Religion", a socially conservative but economic liberal syndicated opinion column which appears in several small and mid-range US publications. The column, archives of which are linked below, is shaped much like a 'gathering point' of views; quotes from...
- Armstrong WilliamsArmstrong WilliamsArmstrong Williams is an African American political commentator, author of a conservative newspaper column, and host of a daily radio show and a nationally syndicated TV program, called The Right Side with Armstrong Williams. From 2004 to 2007, he co-hosted a daily radio program with Sam...
- Bush administration payment of columnistsBush administration payment of columnistsThe Bush administration payment of columnists refers to the payment of public funds to right-wing media commentators by several U.S. executive departments under Cabinet officials to promote various policies of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration...
- Opponents of same-sex marriage in the United StatesOpponents of same-sex marriage in the United StatesOpponents of same-sex marriage in the United States include organizations and individuals who seek to prevent or reverse the legalization of same-sex marriage...
External links
- The National Organization for Marriage
- Institute for Marriage and Public Policy
- Gallagher's donors and supporters
- Short biography on uexpress.com
- Archive of Gallagher's editorials
- Institute for American Values
- Maggie Gallagher debates Gavin Newsom on gay marriage in a May 2009 interactive debate from NOW on PBS Online