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The National Organization for Marriage is an American outfit who are trying to save marriage so that’s its between one woman and one man. All very christian and nice, you know the type.
So, they released a commercial about the ‘coming storm’ and made some outrageous statements – its worth looking at, just so you can laugh. Its high on emotions, but has no ‘facts’ as such.
The NOM seem to link marriage with having children. It is possible to be married and not have children, some people choose that.
The website of NOM has a download, Why Marriage Matters (catholic edition), you can get it in English or Spanish and for catholic, protestant or jew. It lists seven scientific reasons as to why marriage matters. Lets have a look at those reasons, just for the fucking fun of it.
The document quotes it source as the Institute for American Values that claim to contribute intellectually to strengthening families and civil society in the U.S. and the world. How noble of them, how very christian of them, and how revealing that the report from NOM comes from a self serving organisation.
You can find the information from the IAV website, however you have to cough up the money for it. There’s no indication that the survey or studies done are completed by independent bodies. I rather suspect its self interest.
Scientific fact 1:
Marriage reduces the risk of poverty for children and communities
Cool – let gay people get married then. Regardless of whether or not they have children, the risk of poverty is reduced. Mind you, if what you did was increase the pay of single parents, reduced the cost of child care then the fact that they have one income would help them. Married couples are lucky, one of them can stay home, or they can both work and use child care.
Scientific fact 2:
Fatherless households increase crime.
Great – then two father households would reduce the crime rate by 200%? Do they mean that boys are more likely to commit a crime if they have no father figure? Get them a father figure.
Scientific fact 3:
Marriage protects children’s physical and mental health.
It can also fuck it up big time, especially if one of your parents lies and cheats, sexually abuses you, mentally abuses you, physically abuses you.
Scientific fact 4:
Both men and women who marry live longer, healthier and happier lives.
How do you measure happiness? Perhaps they just live longer lives because they don’t want to die before their partner, so as not to give them the satisfaction of driving them to an early grave. How many studies have been done on two married men, do they live longer than a man and a woman? What studies have been done if two women get married? How is this a scientific reason to keep the status quo. What if the evidence indicated that two men living together live longer, will marriage be banned because its a danger to the health of men and women?
Scientific fact 5:
Just living together is not the same as marriage.
Well no. Being married is a legally binding contract. Mind you, plenty of de facto relationships exist and perhaps that’s the same. Any way- why is this a scientific fact? Is it a legal fact?
Scientific fact 6:
Parents who don’t get or stay married put children’s education at risk.
Put it at risk? Put their education at risk? Even if I accept the ‘fact’, the risk is that they get lower point grade averages. Not “no education” their education is fine, they just get a lower score. They are also less likely to end up as college graduates. Umm…. less likely, so that means that its still likely.
Scientific fact 7:
When marriages fail, ties between parents and children typically weaken too.
Well yes, but this fact points more to the divorce process of one parent being given ‘rights’ over the other. Perhaps if the children were put first and parents agreed fully to co-parenting then this would be less of an issue.
The whole notion that marriage and children can only be done with a man and a women is flawed. Children are raised in all sort of circumstances, and a vast majority of them seem to turn out ok. Divorce has been happening in higher numbers since the 60’s and that generation now runs the world. Lets face it, when using statistics to prove your point, or even your scientific fact, you need to actually conduct your experiments in the correct manner, to allow for peer review, and to fully cover the broad spectrum, in this case, of human relationship.
These are not scientific fact, these are results of surveys and studies. Prone to error based on who and how the questions were asked. It’s self serving and does not indicate the ‘other side’ was even considered.
As far as I can tell, there is no evidence to suggest that my children, raised by me a gay llama, raised in straight and gay relationships are any worse off than my straight llama friend who has done it as a married man, a single man and partnered man.
These are not claims against gay marriage.