Policy Briefs

Newspaper Reactions to California Marriage Cases
On May 15th, the California Supreme Court struck down Proposition 22, passed by 61 percent of California voters in 2000, and issued a ruling that civil unions were not sufficient. How have Americans responded? We looked at one potentially influential indicator—editorials in major newspapers across the country—and find a surprisingly ambivalent response.

American Courts On Marriage: Is Marriage Discriminatory? 1998-2008
On May 15, 2008 the California Supreme Court overruled Proposition 22 which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. California thus joins Massachusetts as the only other court to hold that marriage constitutes discrimination in the U.S.

Pope Benedict XVI on Marriage: A Compendium
On April 15, Pope Benedict XVI visits the United States for the first time. What will his message be to Americans and to the world during his United Nations visit? Amid the themes of world peace, respect for human dignity, the dangers of greed, exploitation, and violence, I suspect Pope Benedict will find some time for a reflection on marriage and the human family.

Does Divorce Law Affect the Divorce Rate? A Review of Empirical Research, 1995-2006
Did the introduction of no-divorce law affect the divorce rate? This study looks at all the empirical research since 1995 that examines the impact of no-fault divorce laws on divorce rates both in the United States and in other nations, 24 studies in all.

Demand for Same-Sex Marriage: Evidence from the United States, Canada, and Europe 4/26/06
What proportion of gay and lesbian people choose to marry, when the option is legally available?

This research report offers estimates of gay and lesbian marriage rates based on the best available data. The highest estimate to date of the proportion of gays and lesbians who have married in any jurisdiction where it is available is 16.7% (Massachusetts). More typically, our survey of marriage statistics from various countries that legally recognize same-sex unions suggests that today between 1% and 5% of gays and lesbians have entered into a same-sex marriage. In the Netherlands, which has had same-sex marriage as a legal option for the longest period, between 2% and 6% of gays and lesbians have entered marriages in the first five years.

Trend data is extremely limited, but the available data suggest that the number of gay marriages tends to decrease after an initial burst (reflecting pent up demand). Whether same-sex marriage will emerge as common or normative among gays and lesbians, or fade as time and novelty passes, cannot yet be determined.

Can Married Parents Reduce Crime? 9/21/05
Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy says, "Results like these are a reality check for people such as Peggy Drexler ("Raising Boys Without Men") who argue that it is only poverty, and not father absence, that hurts children. Boys are hardwired to grow into men. But they are not hardwired to grow into good family men. That’s a job for mothers and fathers working together."

Same-Sex Marriage: Recent Trends in Public Opinion 4/29/05
After eighteen months of intense public scrutiny, polls show strong and increasing opposition to same-sex marriage. Between June 2003 and March 2005, opposition to gay marriage rose from 55 percent to 68 percent in Gallup polling. In the last 18 months, the proportion of Americans who support a constitutional amendment defining marriage has also risen seven points from 50 to 57 percent.

Marriage and Adoption Law: a 50 state review 2/4/05
While all 50 states assert that adoption is governed by the "best interests of the child," legal preferences for married couples in adoption are rare. More states explicitly ban "discrimination" based on marital status than contain even mild preferences for marriage. Five states (Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York) make it illegal to prefer married couples in placement decisions. Only one state (Utah) codifies a clear preference for married couples in adoptions. Recommendation: State legislatures should codify appropriate preferences for married couples (where available) in adoption law.

Same-Sex Marriage: What Does The Next Generation Think? 11/23/04
What does the next generation think about same-sex marriage? Depending on how the question is asked, a majority of young adults either oppose or support samesex marriage. In recent polls by reputable polling companies, the proportion of young adults (ages 18-29) who favor gay marriage ranges from 40% to 63%. Conversely, the proportion of young adults opposed to gay marriage ranges from 36% to 54%. In our judgment, the most neutrally worded polls find a majority of young adults currently oppose same-sex marriage, even as a majority of college students now favor it.

The Senate Marriage Debate: A Summary 8/3/04
What do Americans think about marriage? From Friday, July 9 through Wednesday, July 14, 2004, the U.S. Senate conducted a public debate on the Federal Marriage Amendment.1 The speeches are an unusual example of public debate about the purpose of marriage, its place in the Constitution and its role in our public life, among other topics. What follows are excerpts from all 50 senators who made substantive speeches on the marriage amendment during the July floor debate.

Is DOMA Enough? An Analysis 7/12/04
Do we need a constitutional amendment to protect marriage? Some influential elites question the need for a constitutional amendment. As Senator Susan Collins (RMaine) told the Boston Globe earlier this year, "I don’t at this point see the need for a constitutional amendment as long as the Defense of Marriage Act remains on the books."1

For people who define the problem as the involuntary spread of same-sex marriage from one state to others, a key question becomes: Are federal DOMA laws enough?

1000 Federal Benefits of Marriage? An Analysis of the 1997 GAO Report 5/26/04
In 1997, the General Accounting Office (GAO) identified 1,049 federal laws "in which marital status is a factor." In January 2004, the GAO updated this report, identifying 1,138 incidents of marriage in federal law.3 These are often loosely referred to in the press as the 1,000 federal benefits of marriage,4 despite the 1997 GAO report’s disclaimer that "no conclusions can be drawn . . . concerning the effect of [a] law on married people versus single people. A particular law may create either advantages or disadvantages for those who are married, or may apply to both married and single people."

The purpose of this report is to analyze the 1997 GAO report and the 2004 update to estimate the extent to which these 1,138 federal statutes confer significant marital benefits.

Same-Sex Unions and Divorce Risk Data from Sweden 5/3/04
A recent study offers the first systematic review of same-sex unions and divorce rates based on accurate national register data in Sweden from the 1990’s.1

The study found that gay male couples were 1.5 times as likely (or 50 percent more likely) to divorce as married opposite-sex couples, while lesbian couples were 2.67 times as likely (167 percent more likely) to divorce as opposite-sex married couples over a similar period of time.2 Even after controlling for demographic characteristics associated with increased risk of divorce, male same-sex couples were 1.35 times as likely (35 percent more likely) to divorce, and lesbian couples were three times as likely (200 percent more likely) to divorce as opposite-sex married couples.

Do Mothers and Fathers Matter? The Social Science Evidence on Marriage and Child Well-Being 2/27/04
Do children do best when they are raised by their own married mother and fathers, or are alternative family forms just as good at protecting children? An emerging bi-partisan consensus on marriage and child well-being is being challenged by research on gay and lesbian parenting, which some scholars and advocates say shows that children do just as well raised by unisex couples. How should policymakers and other elites evaluate these two competing bodies of evidence?

Polls on Civil Unions: iMAPP Public Opinion Round-Up 12/5/03
Summary of Opinion Research on Civil Unions, Domestic Partnerships, and Marital Benefits

Polls on SSM: iMAPP Public Opinion Round-Up 12/5/03
Summary of Opinion Research on Same-Sex Marriage

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