SAME-SEX UNIONS DIVIDE "MARRIAGE MOVEMENT": Jane Eisner

One-hundred and forty scholars, health-care professionals, clergy and public officials are releasing a statement today lauding the work of the grassroots "marriage movement" in helping stem the tide of family breakdown in America.

And they have reason to celebrate. Some damaging trends--such as divorce and out-of-wedlock births--are stabilizing or, in the case of teen pregnancy, declining. Research is pointing out programs that work, and why, enabling a more rational, persuasive public conversation. ...

The document explicitly links same-sex marriage and family breakdown. Because of that, some notable pro-marriage activists, from both left and right, have declined to sign today's statement.

"We heterosexuals have enough on our plate to keep us occupied for the rest of our lives," says Mike McManus, founder of Marriage Savers. He declined to sign the statement even though it singles out for praise the clergy-led Community Marriage Policies, which he developed and has expanded to 190 congregations nationwide. ...

Perhaps. But many of those who work to promote healthy marriages find the same-sex debate a monumental distraction. After all, the decline in marriage and the increase in the number of children born outside of wedlock--much more threatening trends--began in the 1960s, whereas Massachusetts began sanctioning gay marriage only in May of this year.

Divorce, too, is a much more pressing threat. The number of gays and lesbians who "marry" and raise children pales in comparison with the number of heterosexuals who give the United States what is probably the highest divorce rate in the world.

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posted by Eve at 4:17 PM | link

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