Stanley Kurtz’s screed in The Weekly Standard pointing to Scandinavia as evidence of how same-sex marriage is “undermining” the institution of marriage: not exactly a bit of light reading to start the day. An excerpt:
Marriage is slowly dying in Scandinavia. A majority of children in Sweden and Norway are born out of wedlock. Sixty percent of first-born children in Denmark have unmarried parents. Not coincidentally, these countries have had something close to full gay marriage for a decade or more. Same-sex marriage has locked in and reinforced an existing Scandinavian trend toward the separation of marriage and parenthood. The Nordic family pattern–including gay marriage–is spreading across Europe. And by looking closely at it we can answer the key empirical question underlying the gay marriage debate. Will same-sex marriage undermine the institution of marriage? It already has.
More precisely, it has further undermined the institution. The separation of marriage from parenthood was increasing; gay marriage has widened the separation. Out-of-wedlock birthrates were rising; gay marriage has added to the factors pushing those rates higher. Instead of encouraging a society-wide return to marriage, Scandinavian gay marriage has driven home the message that marriage itself is outdated, and that virtually any family form, including out-of-wedlock parenthood, is acceptable.
The “undermining” assertion always boggles me. Do he and others choose to ignore the rights issue here? An excerpt from Andrew Sullivan’s response:
In countries with high levels of secularism, a vast welfare state, and the option of registered partnerships rather than marriage, you would indeed expect traditional marriage to be in decline. There are other factors as well, as Kurtz details them: “Contraception, abortion, women in the workforce, spreading secularism, ascendant individualism…” All of this is not exactly staggering news. What is staggering is Kurtz’s attempt to show that gay marriage in these countries is somehow responsible for this shift.
First off: the entire premise of the piece–that marriage for gays is legal in Norway, Denmark and Sweden–is factually untrue. There are no marriage rights for gays in the countries he cites. There are, instead, what are called “registered partnerships.” These partnerships are open to heteros as well as homos… Even if Kurtz were able to prove in any way a linkage between the emergence of “registered partnerships” and the decline of marriage, it would have no relevance to the debate on equal marriage rights for gays in the U.S. The emergence of gay couples in society is a fact. Sane conservatives need to acknowledge this rather than run away from it. Given that such a presence is here: what should we do to respond to it? My answer is: co-opt gays into the existing and paramount institution for coupling, i.e. marriage. Oppose all counterfeits–like civil unions–which, because they are also open to straights, obviously do undermine marriage. Don’t let your homophobia get in the way of your conservative common sense. Defend marriage from civil unions and domestic partnerships–not from gay couples.
Exactly.
One reply on “Protecting marriage… from whom?”
Perhaps the right-wing zealots should try to pass a law about marriage — not defining it as between a man and woman, but defining it as a contract to produce children. All married couples MUST have at least one child, otherwise their marriage is not legal and recognized. Make parenthood and marriage inseparable. Just as God and nature intended, right?
Idiots.