The marriage debate: We’ve moved on. But to what?

The same sex marriage debate is firmly behind us. We’ve all moved on, to legally recognizing multiple parents

January 17, 2007 | by Andrea Mrozek , Manager of Research and Communications, Institute of Marriage and Family Canada
PDF:  The marriage debate: We’ve moved on. But to what?

Endnotes

  1. A sampling of studies on what Maggie Gallagher calls an emerging consensus on marriage and child outcomes can be found in M. Gallagher and J.K. Baker. (2004). Do Mothers and Fathers Matter? Institute for Marriage and Public Policy. Manassas, VA. The brief reads: “The weight of social science evidence strongly supports the idea that family structure matters and that the family structure that is most protective of child well-being is the intact, biological, married family.” But these studies do not compare with children “raised from birth by same sex couples.”
    “[c]hildren in single-parent families, children born to unmarried mothers, and children in stepfamilies or cohabiting relationships face higher risks of poor outcomes.”
    K. Anderson Moore, et al., (2002). Marriage from a Child’s Perspective: How does family structure affect children and what can we do about it? Child Trends Research Brief (Washington, D.C.: Child Trends).
    “[r]esearch indicates that, on average, children who grow up in families with both their biological parents in a low-conflict marriage are better off in a number of ways than children who grow up in single-, step-, or cohabiting-parent households.” M. Parke. (2003). Are married parents really better for children? What research says about the effects of family structure on child well-being. CLASP Policy Brief no. 3 (Washington, D.C.: Center for Law and Social Policy).
  2. Linda Waite testifying before the Irish High Court in Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan versus Revenue Commissioners, Ireland and the Attorney General, a decision delivered December 14, 2006. Retrieved January 9, 2007, from www.familywatchinternational.org/fwi/Ireland_highcourt_ruling.doc
    “[Waite] explained that in fact her approach to the topic was that she was neutral and her reason for being neutral was that at this stage there simply was no evidence one way or another as to the consequences of same sex marriage.”
  3. M. Gallagher and J.K. Baker. Do Mothers and Fathers Matter? (2004) Institute for Marriage and Public Policy. Manassas, VA.
  4. Conversation with Dan Cere, January 8, 2007.
  5. The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and South Africa and the state of Maine have legalized same sex marriage. The Czech Republic and Slovenia offer civil partnerships. France, after initiating an Information Mission, at the request of the President of the National Assembly, chose not to legalize same sex marriage. Ireland faced a court challenge, after which they also decided not to legally recognize same sex marriages, even those done in other countries. The plaintiffs in the case were married in British Columbia, Canada.
    French report in full retrieved January 9, 2007 from
    http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/dossiers/mission_famille_enfants.asp
    English summary retrieved January 9, 2007 from http://www.marriageinstitute.ca/images/PARLIAMENTARY_REPORT_ON_THE_FAMILY_AND_THE_RIGHTS_OF_CHILDREN.pdf
  6. Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan versus Revenue Commissioners, Ireland and the Attorney General (2006).
  7. The Irish court case is not about legalizing three parents, but rather about recognizing same sex marriage. But this case is nonetheless relevant because the legalization of three parents is a direct result of the legalization of same sex marriage. While not every marriage involves children, offering the institution of marriage to couples entirely without access to procreation offers a new right devoid of any meaning. (This is something scholars like Margaret Somerville, McGill ethicist and Douglas Farrow, McGill professor of religion, among others, have written about, and provides part of the basis for their opposition to legal recognition of same sex marriage.) Same sex marriages in order to be truly equal, must involve procreation, and this by default means the involvement of at least three parties. Douglas Farrow, Project Director for Pluralism, Religion & Public Policy at McGill University, spoke to this issue and about the process of achieving equality in marriage for same sex couples at the March4Marriage rally on Parliament Hill on April 9, 2005. He said, “In order to make homosexual unions more nearly equivalent to heterosexual unions it is necessary either to find a way for the former to produce babies by technological means or to deprive the latter, that is heterosexual couples, of any special relationship to their babies. It is necessary, in other words, for the state to take control of human reproduction.”
  8. Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan versus Revenue Commissioners, Ireland and the Attorney General (2006). “[Waite] has concluded that the evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that the social institution of marriage changes the choices and behaviour of individuals... In relation to the benefits that accrue to children, she said that those involved emotional well-being and involved physical health; children raised in a two parent family are less likely to become ill when aged and less likely to die when they are post retirement age. She noted that children on average do better in school, they have fewer behaviour problems, they have higher academic achievement and are more likely to graduate from college and to have good occupations. She noted that they are more likely to form married families themselves and are less likely to have children while unmarried.”
  9. Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan versus Revenue Commissioners, Ireland and the Attorney General (2006).
  10. The court found Waite’s evidence convincing for a number of reasons, not least of which are her academic credentials. However, they appeared to appreciate her restraint. The decision reads, “[Waite] said that it was extremely important to have a full picture of the methodology used for a particular study and the controls used to exclude confounding or biased factors. Her comment was as follows: ‘No one should pay any attention to studies that are poorly done. They are just some stories, they really are not science.’’ Waite’s testimony was bolstered by the fact that ideologically, she is not against same sex marriage, but rather, is waiting for research to lead her direction.
  11. Conversation with Dan Cere, January 8, 2007.