... gay advocates are right to point out the failures of the heterosexual marriage. Beginning in 1969, no-fault divorce made it easier to get out of a twenty-five-year marriage than to get out of one’s cell phone contract. Within fifteen years, the divorce rate soared to 250 percent of its 1960 value with the majority of divorces involving minor children headed by a single-parent woman.
Prior to that time, the strong marriage ethos of our society meant that most pregnant women were either married or got married. But by 1992 the number of children born outside of marriage jumped from 11 percent to 30 percent. Tragically, those children are more often victims of abuse, domestic violence, anti-social behavior, depression, substance abuse, and poverty than children brought up by both biological parents.
To answer Mr. Giberson on how gay “marriage” will affect this trend, we need look no further than Scandinavia. According to Stanley Kurtz in the Weekly Standard, Scandinavia has had gay “marriage” for over a decade. During that time it experienced a 25 percent increase in co-habitation and unmarried parenthood, resulting in a 60 percent out-of-wedlock birthrate in some Scandinavian countries.
In addition, studies compiled by Peter Sprigg and Timothy Dailey show that children raised by gay couples risk a fifty times higher incidence of incest, a two times incidence of domestic violence, and perform worst in nine out of twelve social and academic areas, as compared to children in other family types.
Thus, the results for the gay “marriage” experiment are in: By further elevating the desires of adults over the needs of children, gay “marriage” widens the gap between marriage and the stable nurture of the next generation.
Has the blight of heterosexual divorce undermined the welfare of families and children? Sadly, yes. But that is no justification to redefine marriage, or sanction other family configurations that deepen the problems of fatherless homes, single-parent moms, and at-risk children.
“[T]he lives of millions of adults and children will judge us harshly for not learning the marriage redefinition lesson the first time. People get hurt deeply when you tinker with the essential nature of marriage . . . ” (Glenn T. Stanton)
(Excerpted from an article by Regis Nicoll, All Things Examined, entitled "The Dangers of Same Sex Marriage" )
