MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Same-sex marriage opponents who believe a state panel studying the issue has its mind made up went on the offensive Tuesday, announcing the formation of a new group they said will educate Vermonters about the benefits of man-woman marriage.

The Vermont Marriage Advisory Council will hold forums and drum up interest through a Web site in hopes of enlightening people about the advantages of traditional marriage, especially those relating to children, whose stake in the controversy has been overlooked to date, according to spokesperson Stephen Cable, of Rutland.

Unlike the state-appointed Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection, which is currently holding hearings on whether Vermont should grant marriage rights to same-sex couples, the Council doesn’t pretend to be neutral, Cable said.

Its efforts will be “purely educational,” said Cable, founder of the organization Vermont Renewal, who opposed Vermont’s first-in-the-nation civil unions law in 2000.

“In the last seven years, since civil unions (began), what we’ve discovered is that there’s a tremendous amount of new information about traditional man-and-woman marriage and the social goods that it provides.

“Marriage is so important an institution to society that any slight change in the law concerning marriage can have a profound impact on the social goods that it provides,” said Cable.

The 11-member state panel is traveling around the state to gather input from Vermonters about whether the state should take the next step in recognizing same-sex relationships. It plans to report to the Legislature in April, although it’s unlikely lawmakers will take it up this year.

The Commission isn’t out to push one side or the other in the debate, chair Thomas Little said Tuesday.

“It misunderstands the mission or the charge of the commission, which is not, in my view, to make an up-or-down, yes-or-no recommendation on same-sex marriage, but to tell in a report what we found in testimony around the state and in our legal research, to let legislators and other elected officials use that data to make their decisions about the ultimate question,” he said.

Cable, who announced the new group at a Statehouse news conference, was joined by Council members Jeff Stephenson, a 25-year-old Chittenden police officer, and Shoreham nurse Meg Barnes, 67.

“We’re very much opposed to changing the definition of marriage, because it is a very solid institution when properly understood,” Barnes said.

According to Cable, the impetus for the group’s formation came at an Oct. 29 meeting of the state panel in which same-sex marriage opponent Monte Stewart got a cool reception from panel members.

At one point in that meeting, Little reminded the members they were there to listen, not to debate Stewart.

“Unlike the Commission, we are not stating that we are unbiased and don’t already have an opinion,” said Cable. “What we’re saying is that we want to educate Vermonters about information that has come about since civil unions that we think Vermonters have not looked at or discussed, and that is very clear the Vermont Commission doesn’t want to discuss, based on their previous actions,” Cable said.

Little said it was wrong to conclude that the state panel favors same-sex marriage, based solely on that exchange.

Beth Robinson, chair of the pro-gay marriage group Vermont Freedom to Marry, said she was puzzled and disappointed by the formation of the new group.

“The Commission has provided them and anyone who wants to speak the opportunity to be part of the dialogue with fellow Vermonters. Instead of joining in a good process that’s already in place, they’re creating their own process where they can control everything,” Robinson said.

The Marriage Advisory Council’s first “Marriage Matters” forum will be held Jan. 19 at the University of Vermont, where Stewart and Family Research Council fellow Patrick Fagan will be featured speakers.