Monday, May 4, 2009

A gay marriage sea change

Recent polls suggest that for the first time, more than fifty percent of Americans approve of the idea of gay marriage. Opponents of same-sex marriage in the United States claim that it would undermine the institution of marriage, weaken family structures, and cause harm to children. Drawing on 17 years of data and experience with same-sex marriage in Scandinavia (in the form of registered partnerships), William Eskridge, one of our nations most distinguished law professors and scholars on the subject, finds that the evidence refutes conservative defense-of-marriage arguments and,in fact, demonstrates that the institution of marriage may indeed benefit from the legalization of gay marriage. Eskridge's book Gay Marriage: for Better or for Worse?: What We've Learned from the Evidence is the first book to present empirical evidence about the effects of same-sex marriage on society.

My conversation with Bill Eskridge: