Emory Law Professor Michael J. Perry will explain why denying civil marriage to same-sex couples violates the internationally recognized right to religious freedom, his topic for the annual Currie Lecture Wednesday, March 21, at 12:30 p.m., at Emory University School of Law.

Perry's lecture, "Freedom of Religion, Same-Sex Marriage and the Catholic Church," will focus on the Catholic Church's principal rationale for denying access to civil marriage to same-sex couples and explain why that rationale is an illegitimate basis of law and public policy under the right to religious freedom.

Sponsored by Emory' Center for the Study of Law and Religion's (CSLR), the lecture takes place at 1301 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30322. Parking information.

Perry, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law and a CSLR Senior Fellow, is a world-class scholar of American constitutional Law. His work focuses on constitutional rights and the Supreme Court's role in enforcing them; law, morality and religion; and human rights theory. He is the author of more than 75 articles and essays and 13 books, most recently "The Political Morality of Liberal Democracy."

Perry's talk is the final event in CSLR's When Law and Religion Meet Lecture Series 2011-2012, which explores difficult legal, moral and theological issues facing religious communities.