Same-Sex Marriage Does Not Influence Heterosexual Marriage,
 Says Report for Council on Contemporary Families

 ÊÊNEW YORK, July 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- You can't prove a
 negative. But University of Massachusetts economist Lee
 Badgett demonstrates that the adoption of same-sex marriage
 and same-sex partnership rights in Scandinavia and the
 Netherlands has not changed previously-existing trends in
 marriage, divorce, cohabitation, or out-of-wedlock
 childbearing. Same-sex marriage has not undermined
 heterosexual marriage where it has been adopted and is
 unlikely do so in the United States. Surprisingly, in many
 countries where there is greater tolerance for same-sex
 marriage and unwed childbearing, children actually spend
 more of their lives with their two biological parents than
 in the U.S.


 ÊÊIn a briefing paper prepared for the Council on
 Contemporary Families and the Institute for Gay and Lesbian
 Strategic Studies, Professor Badgett presents evidence from
 Scandinavia and the Netherlands to make her case. Since the
 passage of partner recognition laws, and contrary to
 widely-quoted claims:


 ÊÊ- Heterosexual marriage rates in Denmark actually
 increased after adoption of same-sex marriage. They are now
 the highest they have been since the early 1970s. In other
 countries that adopted same-sex partnerships, marriage rates
 remained the same or increased slightly.


 ÊÊ- Divorce rates have remained the same.


 ÊÊ- The majority of families with children in Scandinavia
 and the Netherlands are still headed by married parents. In
 fact, in Norway, 77 percent of couples with children are
 married. And 75 percent of Dutch families with children
 include married couples. ÊBy comparison, 72 percent of
 U.S. families with children are headed by married couples.


 ÊÊ(The reason that these strong marriage figures coexist
 with high rates of out-of-wedlock births is that in
 Scandinavia and the Netherlands most cohabiting couples
 marry after they start having children.)


 ÊÊ- Acceptance of same-sex partners has not weakened
 commitments to children. In fact, the average Scandinavian
 child spends more than 80 percent of his or her life living
 with both parents -- more time than the average American
 child!


 ÊÊNo Difference: According to Badgett, none of the evidence
 demonstrates that same-sex partnership laws were responsible
 for the slight increase in heterosexual marriages. The point
 is that the partner recognition laws have had no impact on
 the circumstances and situation of marriage and families in
 Scandinavia and the Netherlands.


 ÊÊDetailed comparisons: Marriage and child-bearing have
 become less directly connected over time in most European
 countries and in the United States. In Denmark, the number
 of cohabiting couples with children rose by 25 percent in
 the 1990s. ÊRoughly half of all births in Norway, Sweden,
 and Denmark, and almost 2/3 in Iceland, are to parents who
 are not married. ÊBut these trends were well-established
 before adoption of same-sex marriage and have not increased
 faster since. In fact, Badgett's data shows that similar
 changes in family forms occurred at exactly the same rate in
 countries that did not adopt same-sex partner laws as in
 countries that did.


 ÊÊ"In the end, the Scandinavian and Dutch experience
 suggests that there is little reason to worry that
 heterosexual people will flee marriage if gay and lesbian
 couples get the same rights," concludes Professor Badgett.


 ÊÊStephanie Coontz, Director of Research and Public
 Education at CCF and a historian of marriage, says that her
 research leads to similar conclusions. "Most of the changes
 in marriage that we see today were initiated by
 heterosexuals, and they have been in the works for 50
 years. Demands for recognition of same-sex partnership are
 more result than cause of the changes in the role of
 marriage in society."


 ÊÊFor a copy of the Briefing Report, please visit
 http://www.iglss.org/media/files/briefing.pdf or
 contact Professor Badgett at 413-545-0159 or
 lbadgett@econs.umass.edu. For more information or
 assistance, contact Stephanie Coontz, Council on
 Contemporary Families, 360-352-8117 coontzs@msn.com.