Here’s an answer to claims that allowing gays to marry will destroy the institution for everyone: the divorce rate in the states that allow gay marriage is 20 percent lower than in states that prohibit it. The state with the lowest divorce rate, Massachusetts, was also the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2004. (Massachusetts’s divorce rate has actually declined since then.) Of the 15 states with the highest divorce rates, all ban gays and lesbians from marrying.
With 2.5 divorces per 1,000 people, Illinois has the lowest divorce rate of any state that bans same-sex marriage. Clearly, a pro-marriage state like ours belong in the other category. Are you listening, House of Representatives? Here’s a complete breakdown, using statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
