Who's Afraid of Gay Marriage?
— -- The New York Court of Appeals just heard oral argument in four same-sex marriage cases; a decision is expected this summer. An odd thing about New York's showdown is that Attorney General Elliott Spitzer, a proponent of same-sex marriage, defended the state exclusion. As did New York City's Counsel, who answers directly to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, another fan of gay marriage. What's going on here?
It may be a matter of professional ethics. The Attorney General is supposed to defend the state's laws against constitutional attack, even if he is a political critic of such laws. But former Attorney General Robert Abrams on several occasions, including high-profile cases involving gay rights, conceded the unconstitutionality of state laws. Something more is going on.
Even in liberal New York, politicians are afraid to push same-sex marriage too hard. A lot of voters fear that gay marriage would be a risky social experiment, with possibly harsh consequences for the imperiled institution of marriage itself. Additionally, they're afraid of asking unelected judges to initiate such an experiment.
The first fear is a lavender herring. Same-sex marriage is nothing to be afraid of. Denmark has recognized lesbian and gay partnerships ("marriages" in all but name) since 1989. Although some conservatives claim that same-sex marriage has spelled the "end of marriage" in Denmark, nothing could be further from the truth.
Danish marriage was in deep decline long before 1989: the marriage rate was falling, and the divorce and non-marital childbirth rates soared. If gay marriage really harms the institution of marriage, one would expect these trends to accelerate after 1989. Yet the opposite occurred in Denmark: after legal recognition of same-sex unions, the marriage rate increased, the divorce rate fell, and the rate of childbirths outside of marriage declined for the first time in half a century. Similar trends occurred in the other Scandinavian countries that recognized same-sex partnerships.
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