Please, think of the gerbils.
Posted on 07/28/2006 3:42:04 PM PDT by Sopater
(AgapePress) - Homosexual activists in the U.S. are fighting ferociously for the legal right to marry, and are equalled in their tenacity only by their pro-family opponents. But when and where they are given the legal right, do homosexuals really want to get married?
Statistics appear to answer in the negative. That is the conclusion reached in a report issued by the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy (iMAPP) and written by the group's president, Maggie Gallagher, and policy director, Joshua K. Baker. The iMAPP policy paper, "Demand for Same-Sex Marriage: Evidence from the United States, Canada, and Europe [PDF]," indicates that immediately following the legalization of same-sex marriage, "the number of same-sex marriages, after an initial burst, appears to [decrease] with each year the legal option is available."
In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. They were quickly followed by Belgium, Canada, Spain and South Africa. According to Caleb H. Price, research analyst in the Government and Public Policy Division at Focus on the Family, civil unions or other forms of domestic partnerships are allowed in an additional 11 nations.
But Gallagher and Baker found that homosexuals don't seem very enthusiastic about taking part in the institution of marriage. (See "State of the Unions" below) In the Netherlands, for example, only 6.3% of homosexuals in that nation have gotten married. Only 2.1% of the total Dutch population is homosexual.
In contrast, in U.S. states that have some form of same-sex benefits, a majority of heterosexuals are married: California (52%), Connecticut (55%), Massachusetts (52%), New Jersey (54%), Vermont (55%).
Even when they couple, homosexual relationships are relatively short-lived. A study of homosexual couples in Holland found that same-sex unions lasted an average of 18 months and included an average of eight additional sex partners outside the "monogamous" relationship.
Surprisingly, in France, despite the legalization of homosexual civil unions in 1999, a government commission issued its report in January of this year and recommended against legalizing same-sex marriage. The "Parliamentary Report on the Family and the Rights of Children" said the government should "affirm and protect children's rights and the primacy of those rights over adults' aspirations."
After canvassing experts in France, and traveling to Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada in order to assess the reforms that have occurred in those nations, the commission said that the best interests of children argue against same-sex marriage.
The commission determined that it "is not possible to think about marriage separately from filiation: the two questions are closely connected, in that marriage is organized around the child."
As a result of that determination, the experts on the government panel realized that the right of homosexuals to marry would simultaneously or subsequently also have to include the right to adopt. "A majority of [the commission] does not wish to question the fundamental principles of the law of filiation, which are based on the tripartite unit of 'a father, a mother, a child,' citing the principle of caution," the report said. "For that reason, that majority also, logically, chose to deny access to marriage to same-sex couples."
If so few homosexuals want to get married when they are given the opportunity, why are "gay" and lesbian activists fighting so hard for legalizing same-sex marriage? Probably because homosexual activists are interested in the cultural victory that legalized same-sex marriage would represent, said Price.
"While winning the right to marry may be the 'crown jewel' of the gay-rights movement, what homosexuals really want is for homosexuality to be declared normative, natural and God-ordained," he said. "Their deepest desire is that homosexual behavior would no longer be sin."
State of the Unions According to research conducted separately by the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy and Focus on the Family, only a small percentage of homosexuals marry, join in a civil union, or take advantage of domestic partner (DP) benefits when it becomes legal to do so. (While a few other nations have legalized some form of homosexual unions, an insufficient time has passed for the respective governments to collect statistics.)
Where same-sex marriage is legal ... % of homosexuals joined
Netherlands ... 6.30
Belgium ... 14.70
Massachusetts ... 10.20
Where civil unions are legal ... % of homosexuals joined
France ... 7.38
Germany ... 0.59
New Zealand ... 0.47
Vermont ... 16.00
Connecticut ... 1.17
Where DP benefits are available ... % of homosexuals joined
New Jersey ... 3.75
California ... 9.40
Tasmania (Australia) ... 0.97
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Ed Vitagliano, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is news editor of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
This article, printed with permission, appears in the August 2006 issue.
© 2006 AgapePress all rights reserved.
No, they just want to ruin marriage for the rest of us.
As Rush says, follow the money. It's all about Social Security and other financial benefits that are only available to married people.
But what are the marriage rates in those countries on a whole?
I would believe that homosexual males do not want to marry, but lesbians most definitely do. All the pomp and circumstance too. The wedding dress and receptions, etc.
My sister is a lesbian and would marry her "partner" in a second. They would end in divorce just like she and her two hubands did.
Ugh.
Ask Bill Clinton.
Or his wife.
"Their deepest desire is that homosexual behavior would no longer be sin."
Uh...I don't think that's our call.
The ultimate, unstated goal is the destruction of American society as we know it. "Rights" just provides covering fire for the Left.
Do homosexuals want to get married??
No. They just want legitimization.
Eight additional sex partners outside of their monogamous relationship in 18 months! Wow, that is commitment. And that's just the average.
The government can react to the actions of a citizen in one of three ways. They can endorse the action, they can ignore the action or they can condemn the action. The vast majority of actions taken by people in the U.S. are rightfully ignored by the government. There are a few things the government will endorse. One such thing is marriage for the purpose of having children, raising a family and advancing society. There are also very few things the government condemns. These are actions that take away the rights of others. If gays want the government to endorse their unions the way they endorse heterosexual unions than they should argue the social merits of gay marriage. That is an argument they would surely lose.
What they really want to do is abolish marriage as an institution.
No, they want the roles and experiences that come from commitment to family: a sense of belonging; responsibility for others' welfare; duty.
And below it all, at some level they want to be parents.
The most important message that can be given to gay people is that they have chosen this destiny for themselves, and have the power to change it.
I'm also certain that this is just a catspaw of the Left which will use any pawn - homosexuals wanting to "marry" are just the latest - in service of their ultimate goal which is the destruction of bourgeois civilization. To then be replaced by their stratified socialist utopia, in which nobody will be married because everybody will be another cog in the great wheel of the state.
That's it right there-to make queerness "normative".
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Exactly - that is the entire queer agenda of the left. To try to make the perversion and sickness of it all, become credible. That is why they have targeted our so-called "schools" and the naive minds of kids. That is the left in action folks.
Liars, deceit, perversion, anything to tear down American values and our systems of accountability.
Exactly. Considering the cost, healh insurance benefits are probably not a minor issue.
If gay marriage is legal, why not polygamy? Why not polyandry? (Practiced in southern India!) Why not group marriage? Matrimonial law could be the #1 growth industry for the next 1,000 years!
OK, you sound like somebody who might be able to explain this to me. I'm 50, had a vasectomy, and my girlfriend is post-menopause. If we had a baby, you'd all be celebrating Christmas on a whole new day. In other words, we have no intention or ability to procreate, period.
How does OUR eventually marrying degrade your marriage any less than a couple of homosexuals doing the same? How does marriage for those who don't or can't procreate take something away from people who do, or intend to?
How does the extension of rights in this case affect the ability and willingness of young straight people to find each other, fall in love, and make babies? Do you really think that the possibility of marrying a guy is going to stop some young horny heterosexual fellow from being sexually attracted to his girlfriend, or to women in general?
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