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This article is part five in a five-part series examining the debate surrounding gay marriage.

As further proof that the continuing controversy over gay marriage is far from over, journalists from both sides of the argument debated the issue at the Memorial Union Tuesday.

Jonathan Rauch, author of “Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America,” spoke on behalf of same-sex-marriage proponents. He argued prohibiting gays from marriage excludes them from fully participating in the cultural norm of adulthood that links sex, love and commitment into a formal, societal institution.

“My name is Jonathan Rauch, and it is illegal for me to marry anyone I love,” he said, telling the audience it is a “scalding deprivation” for him, and for the nine to 15 million other gay Americans, to be kept from marrying.

Rauch pointed to the vast number of benefits of marriage, from the positive effect it has on spouses to the care it provides for children, as reason why the right to marry should be extended to all adult Americans.

He said the major threat to marriage does not come from those who wish to participate in the institution, but rather arises from heterosexual couples that abandon the institution by divorcing.

“I don’t think children need a mommy and a daddy,” he said. “What children need is a married mommy and a daddy.”

Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, presented the other side of the debate.

“Marriage is about giving children mothers and fathers,” she said. “This is not about homosexuality. This is about marriage.”

In particular, she focused on the prevalence of “fatherlessness” as a reason why alternative families in any form are detrimental to families and children.

“I think lesbian mothers can be very good mothers,” Gallagher said. “I don’t think they can be fathers for their children.”

Although she acknowledged the high regard many gay couples have for marriage and family, Gallagher said society must keep traditional marriage intact because it serves as the basic social institution, linking mothers and fathers together for the sake of their children.

“We are all affected by the cultural messages we give,” she said.

The high rates of divorce and deadbeat dads show that the importance of marriage and family is not obvious to many members of our society, she said.

Rauch, however, argued that allowing same-sex couples, several thousand of which are parents, to marry could never be construed as an attack on marriage.

He urged states to allow marriage between homosexuals and said the “basic civil right” of gay marriage will remain an issue until same-sex individuals are allowed to marry.

“Gay couples are here,” Rauch said. “We are not going away.”

The debate was well attended by an audience split equally between supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage.

A large number of organizations co-sponsored the event, from gay-rights groups such as the 10 Percent Society and Action Wisconsin to campus religious organizations InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and St. Paul’s Catholic Church.