EXPERTS QUESTION EUROPEAN STUDIES USED IN FMA DEBATE: From the Washington Blade

To buttress their arguments against gay marriage, Federal Marriage Amendment proponents during the recent Senate debate cited studies from European countries showing a decline in marriages and high out-of-wedlock birth rates after those countries recognized gay unions.

But some experts say the studies referenced during the Senate debate are deeply flawed and are not accurate depictions of what may be contributing to the decline in marriage abroad.

In a recent letter, five Dutch scholars asserted that until the late 1980s, the number of marriages in the Netherlands was high, illegitimate births were down and divorce rates were low, compared to other Western countries. But social experiments in the 1990s have adversely affected marriage, they claim.

While they claim there is "no definitive scientific evidence" that the legalization of gay marriage is solely responsible for the decline in marriage in the Netherlands, the scholars note that a "successful campaign to persuade Dutch citizens that marriage is not connected to parenthood and that marriage and cohabitation are equally valid 'lifestyle choices' has not had serious social consequences." ...

M. V. Lee Badgett, research director of the Institute for Gay & Lesbian Strategic Studies, criticized the scholars' letter, saying it appears to have been written by "legal scholars and philosophers, not demographers, sociologists, economists, or any other kind of social scientist who's made a systematic, credible study of these questions." ...

Van Mourik said that a "national debate about the question of how we can restore marriage to its original special, protected status" is imperative adding that the Netherlands should have simply allowed gays to register as domestic partners instead of marrying.

Some, like Ettelbrick, contend that these "marriage-lite" alternatives--open to heterosexual couples as well--might be doing more to undermine traditional marriage than granting gay couples full marital rights.

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posted by Eve at 11:01 PM VOTE

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