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Health
Q-NOTES • SEPTEMBER 11 . 2004
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Report confirms same-sex
marriage does not influence
heterosexual marriage
Council on Contemporary Families
study focuses on Scandinavian
countries where same-sex
marriage is legal
You can’t prove a negative. But
University of Massachusetts econo
mist Lee Badgctt demonstrates that the
adoption of same-sex marriage and
same-sex partnership
Scandinavia and the
Netherlands has not
changed previously-
existing trends in mar
riage, divorce, cohabita
tion or out-of-wedlock
childbearing. Same-sex
marriage has not
undermined heterosex
ual 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 bio
logical parents than in the U.S.
In a briefing paper prepared for the
Council on Contemporary Families and the
Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic
Studies, Professor Badgett presents evi
dence from Scandinavia and the
Netherlands to make her case. Since the
passage of partner recognition laws, and
contrary to widely-quoted claims, hetero
sexual marriage rates in Denmark actually
increased after adoption of same-sex mar
riage. They are now the highest they have
been since the early 1970s. In other coun
tries that adopted same-sex partnerships,
marriage rates remained the same or
increased slightly.
interestingly enough, divorce rates have
remained the same.
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 chil
dren are married. And 75 percent of Dutch
A study by the Council on Contemporary
Families concludes that allowing same-
sex marriage in this country would have
no impact on heterosexual marriages
families with children include married cou
ples. By comparison, 72 percent of U.S.
families with children are headed by mar
ried couples.
Acceptance of same-sex partners has'
not weakened commitments to children.
The average Scandinavian child spends
more than 80 percent of his or her life liv
ing with both parents — more time than
the average American child.
According to Badgctt, none of the evi
dence demonstrates that same-sex part
nership 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.
"In the end. the Scandinavian and
Dutch experience suggests that there is lit
tle reason to worry that heterosexual peo
ple will flee marriage if gay and lesbian
couples get the same rights,” concludes
Professor Badgett.
info; www.iglss.otg
— Wire services contributed to this report.
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