Take That, “Family Values” Defenders!

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At Five Thirty-Eight.com, Nate Silver has a chart showing a correlation between same-sex marriage bans and divorce. It’s not a perfect correlation, but as you can see, states that have gone to the trouble of banning same-sex marriage, and in particular when it’s banned by constitutional amendment rather than merely by statute, tend to have higher divorce rates.

And the state with the highest divorce rate, Alaska, also was the first to add a same-sex marriage ban to its constitution, in 1998. Heh.

Maybe the secret to a happy marriage is to marry a gay Buddhist.

5 thoughts on “Take That, “Family Values” Defenders!”

  1. Pingback: Divorce and Proposition 8 | Xenia Institute

  2. OT – but when you’re talking about Alaska and gay buddhists, it sounds like a comedy thread so I think this belongs here. :^)

    His intellect and humor will make this a night to remember and share for years and years.” The former leader of the free world will be joined by such top-notch acts as comedian Frank Caliendo, Three Dog Night, the Bellamy Brothers, a country music group, Dennis Miller, and a Beach Boys cover band

    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/bush-liz-cheney-to-speak-at-hunters-convention.php?ref=fpa

  3. In my state, which went the unConstitutional Amendment route, part of the sale of the Proposition was the already worst-in-the-nation divorce rate (not even including the divorce-on-a-dime business the state is famous for).

    I think you may have causality, such as it is, backward – residents looking for a scapegoat for all their troubles, and a perfectly willing rightwingnut noise machine to sell one (gay marriage) to them! Then, when that obviously has no effect, they move on to the next sales job.

    • I think you may have causality, such as it is, backward

      There have been all kinds of studies going back many, many years showing that there are higher rates of divorce, teen pregnancies, and lots of other social ills in ‘Bible Belt’ states than in more liberal parts of the country. I think the real causality is that backward-thinking people are more likely to be homophobic and also more likely to screw up their own lives in other ways.

  4. Look I know you have an interest in this. But the difference is something like 2 percent. TWO PERCENT. You just look petty.

    Anyhow, they probably don’t want more gay marriages because then there will be the regular divorces and a lot of gay divorces.

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