[xm177e2]

A majority of children in Sweden and Norway are born out of wedlock. Sixty percent of first-born children in Denmark have unmarried parents. Not coincidentally, these countries have had something close to full gay marriage for a decade or more. Same-sex marriage has locked in and reinforced an existing Scandinavian trend toward the separation of marriage and parenthood.

In order to believe that gay marriage would be harmful to marriage in general (and as a familial institution), one would have to believe that the heterosexual practicioners of the custom were swayed by what homosexuals did. If a gay guy gets married, are you less likely to? Are you less likely to have a child in wedlock because some gay people are getting married? If so, you're an idiot!

[Ringman]

People "stopped" getting married here in sweden long before homosexual unions were possible, or even debated.

One of the reasons for this is that a relationship gets a basic legal recognition after 6 months of living together. This is a very basic form, and very many seem to prefer it to marriage. I know couples with children in their teens who just never intend to marry eachother.