Same-Sex Unions & Divorce

Toni Meyer, Sr. Research Analyst, NJ Family Policy Council

(Marriage laws preventing gay divorces, 4/16/08) requires a response.  The writer attempts to show that same-sex divorce would be much easier in states with civil unions if they redefined marriage to include same-sex couples like Massachusetts.  However, it is completely un-necessary to redefine marriage for all citizens who live in civil union states, in order to accommodate divorce among same-sex couples.  Those states with civil union laws that don’t already have civil union divorce provisions can just as easily amend their laws to specify procedures.

Also, Ms. Kauffman, a member of the Gay/Lesbian Bar Association should know that the divorce rate among gays is higher – not lower.  In Scandinavia, where same-sex marriage has been legal longer than in Massachusetts, the data is clearly in.  Figures for same-sex unions in Scandinavia for 2006 show that same-sex “marriages” are remarkably fragile – ending in same-sex divorce significantly more than one-man, one woman married couples.  The divorce risk for partnerships of gay men is 50 percent higher than for heterosexual couples and the divorce risk for partnerships of lesbian women is about double the rate compared to heterosexual couples.   

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