A month ago
I criticized President Obama’s decision against issuing an executive order
banning discrimination by federal contractors against LGBT employees. Today I
applaud his momentous statement in an interview with ABC in favor of same-sex
marriage.
Same-sex
marriage is a very contentious issue with people holding strongly felt views on
both sides of the issue. However, the social science evidence does not support
the arguments of opponents of same-sex marriages. There is simply no evidence
that same-sex marriage weakens the institution of marriage or somehow causes
divorce among heterosexual spouses. There is likewise no evidence that the
children of same-sex couples are psychologically harmed by their parents’
sexual orientation. To the contrary, their psychological well-being is at least
as high as that of the children of heterosexual parents.
Although
some thirty states now have laws or constitutional amendments that ban same-sex
marriages, the United States has been moving slowly but surely toward popular
and legal acceptance of these marriages. Younger people are much more in favor
than older people of same-sex marriage. Assuming this trend continues—and there
is no reason to expect that it will not—public support for same-sex marriage
should continue to rise in the coming years as older people pass away and are
replaced by younger generations.
The
president’s statement may have been late in coming for many same-sex marriage
proponents, but the fact remains that he is the first sitting president to
support same-sex marriage. How this support might affect his reelection will
not be known for some time, but it is very likely that his support will help to
further the prospect that same-sex couples will increasingly be allowed to
marry.
