Feb 3, 2010 by Jenny
Benefits of marriage depend on differences
The question often asked after I post something about the benefits of marriage is, ‘if it’s so good, wouldn’t it be good for same-sex couples and the children they are raising?”.
The question assumes that men and women are interchangeable and contribute nothing unique to a marriage and to their children, and/or that marriage is nothing more than the sum of legal benefits conferred by the government.
If you believe either of these, then you probably have no problem with redefining marriage. But the benefits of marriage measured in social science depend on the male-female bond and commitment to the spouse and children.
Over at the Corner Maggie Gallagher responded to a similar criticism and relates this from her experience,
Back in the 1990s, when I went into the public square and said, “Marriage really matters because children need a mom and a dad,” I wasn’t permitted to rest my case on vague generalities — I was required to produce data. Mounds of data, in fact. We have no scientific evidence at all, that I know of, that children raised by same-sex couples benefit if their unions are legally considered marriages.
She briefly addresses the Biblarz and Stacey’s recent study claiming that parents’ gender doesn’t matter for children.
Stacey and Biblarz have published a new study (I have only scanned it), but one big fact leaps out: They concede, as the Prop 8 expert witness conceded, we have no scientific information at all on how children fare in motherless families.
The “rights” language used by those who want to redefine marriage isn’t convincing when we can see the need a child has for a mother and father, and believe that the child has a right to know them.
