Ellen Riggle is a political science professor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. She examined the use of legal documents by same-sex couples to protect and maintain their relationships.

Bonnie Miller-McLemore is a professor of religion, psychology and culture at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn., and co-author of From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate (2000). She teaches courses on women and religion, theology and science, as well as parenting, families and children.

Theodore Caplow is a professor of sociology at the University of Virginia in Charlotte. He tracks social changes in families.

Jonathan Rauch is an Atlantic Monthly correspondent, a National Journal columnist and the author of Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America (Times Books, 2004).

The Rev. Raymond C. O’Brien is a law professor at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He wrote the article “Single Gender Marriage: A Religious Perspective” for the journal Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review.

David McCarthy is a professor of theology at Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Md. He wrote the article “Homosexuality and the Practice of Marriage” for the journal Modern Theology.

Cynthia S. W. Crysdale is associate professor for the School of Theology and Religious Studies at Sewanee: The University of the South. She wrote “Christian Marriage and Homosexual Monogamy” for the book Our Selves, Our Souls and Bodies: Sexuality and the Household of God (Crowley Press, 1996).

Carol Sanger teaches family law at Columbia University Law School in New York City.

Barbara A. Babb is a family law professor at the University of Baltimore in Maryland. She has spoken on the legal issues involved with same-sex marriages.