Scotland considers gay marriage: is it the right thing to do ...

Scotland is set to approve legislation making homosexual marriage legal it was recently announced. The new law, which is yet to be drafted, will be introduced by the Scottish government to the Parliament later in the year. The intention is that the law will come into effect in 2015. Here is an excerpt from the Scotsman.com:

Legalising gay marriage is the ?right thing to do?, Scotland?s Deputy First Minister has said as she announced that the Scottish Government will introduce legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry.

Nicola Sturgeon said they would bring forward a Bill which could see the first same-sex marriages take place at the start of 2015.

While the Holyrood administration insists that protections will be included in the new law to ensure churches, and individuals within them, do not have to conduct same-sex marriages if they do not agree with them, many religious leaders hit out at the decision.

In response to criticism of this move, the deputy first minister of Scotland has defended the government?s decision by ?stating, ?it?s the right thing to do?. We ask the question on our blog today, why is it the right thing to do?

Is it the right thing to do because homosexualiy leads to a desire for marriage and family in the same way heterosexuality does?

Scotland is just one of many countries and territories that are currently considering the issue of same-sex marriage, but they are all late-comers to the question when compared to the Dutch. The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage when it introduced such a law in 2001. Over ten years later in 2012, we have a treasury of statistical data tracking how marriage and homosexuality works in practice based upon the Dutch experience. These statistics shed light on whether homosexuality and marriage are indeed, compatible concepts.

The gay lobby in the Netherlands spent around 15 years working to change Dutch social attitudes to homosexual marriage before the right to marry was finally granted. Having put so much effort into it, one would have thought that a large portion of the homosexual community would have leapt at the chance to finally embrace the hard won right. One would think that?.and one would also be wrong. According to a 2011 study, after ten years of same-sex marriage, only about 8% of homosexuals in the Netherlands have engaged nuptials:

?. 14,813 same?sex couples have entered legal marriages in the Netherlands. Dutch survey data suggest that 2.8% of Dutch men and 1.4% of Dutch women are gay or lesbian. The population of the Netherlands is 16,654,979 Which suggests the population of gays and lesbians in the country is approximately 349,755. If every person who contracted a same?sex marriage in the Netherlands was a resident and was gay or lesbian, 29,626 of these 349,755 have chosen to marry. This means about eight percent of gay and lesbian people have chosen to marry.

Thus eight percent have found marriage desirable, meaning that 92 % of gays and lesbians in the Netherlands have not. Compare that to US statistics from 2009, which incidentally recorded the lowest rate of marriage ever amongst the population, but nonetheless, still show that 52% of the population above the age of 18 are in a heterosexual marriage (these statistics do not include those who may have been previously married, are widowed, divorced or are separated).

But what about gays and lesbians in the Netherlands who cohabitate ? meaning they share a living space with someone whom they are in a relationship with. Surely amongst this demographic within a demographic, there is a large, if not a majority percentage who have tied the same-sex knot? Wrong again. The Dutch statistical evidence shows that among gay and lesbian couples who live together in the Netherlands, less than 20% have actually chosen to marry over the previous ten years, meaning that 80% of those who are in a relationship of some kind feel no compunction to get married. This is the exact opposite to those in heterosexual relationships in the Netherlands. There it is reported that over 80% choose to commit themselves in marriage. Moreover, the interest in same-sex marriage amongst homosexuals has shown decline ?since 2001.

So to recap, 92% of those practicing homosexuality have not found marriage to be desirable, and neither have 80% of those who live with a person they have a relationship with. Be that as it may, certainly, of those homosexuals who do want to live together, having children and establishing a family life is a goal ? right? Again, the statistics don?t support that conclusion. According to another Dutch report published in 2003, the number of homosexual couples living with children is miniscule (see pg. 10), even though in Holland homosexual couples were able to adopt children beginning in 1998, and through other means, could have had children since the 1970s:

In about 9 percent of the households of same-sex couples there is at least one child. However, there is a large difference between male and female couples. About 18 percent of the female couples has a child, as opposed to 1 percent of the male couples.

The report goes on to note that many of the children in these relationships were born from previous, heterosexual relationships, thus further undermining the notion that producing and raising a child is a goal commonly shared amongst homosexuals who are living together. Thus 91% of homosexual households did not have children during this study, and that number goes up to 99% if we consider male homosexual households.

But, even if homosexuals do not get married at the rates which heterosexuals do, and moreover, do not often seek to start families, isn?t it the case that at least some, no matter how small, want to live in committed relationships, and shouldn?t we give them that right? ?If commitment amongst heterosexuals means monogamy, such is not the case in homosexual relationships. Time and time again, studies have shown that the vast majority of homosexuals who claim to be ?committed? to someone do not restrict themselves to a single partner, but rather will engage sexually with multiple partners throughout the course of their ?relationship?. One of the key studies on this issue was conducted in the Netherlands, and as it relates to HIV infections, arrived at the following conclusion:

Most new HIV infections among homosexual men in Amsterdam occur within steady relationships [emphasis added].

What these statistics show is that a homosexual relationship does not come with the attendant level of commitment heterosexual relationships do. Irrespective of the emotional arguments pro-gay advocates marshal in favor of placing homosexual relationships on the same level as heterosexual ones, the evidence indicates that the two must be differentiated. It is apples and oranges.

So here is the big picture. The Dutch statistics on gay marriage are so contrary to the notion that marriage commitment, of the kind we traditionally assign to heterosexual couples, is a common goal held by those practicing homosexuality, that even pro-gay commentators are forced to admit that the legalization of same-sex marriage in the Netherlands has not led to an age of the ?gay-family?. Consider the following quote from one pro-gay marriage writer who reviewed the available statistics and arrived at the following conclusion about the legalization of gay marriage in the Netherlands: ?But at least so far, it has not created a ?marriage culture? among gays ?.? And there is nothing to suggest that the next ten years will bring a change in this regard.

Thus, the argument that legalizing gay marriage is the?right thing to do because homosexuality leads to a committed, family based relationship, such as in heterosexual marriage, is overwhelmingly contradicted by the facts.

In the next installment of this series, we ask the question: Is legalizing gay marriage the right thing to do because it leads to a healthier society?

Eye on Europe

Source: http://worldwatchtoday.org/archives/1512

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