Wednesday, February 8, 2012

"The Marriage Ran Its Course"

The February 8, 2012 U.S. News & World Report tells us that one of the couples on whose behalf the short-lived California same-sex marriage law was created by the courts are divorcing:

Robin Tyler filed for divorce from Diane Olson on Jan. 25. The pair were among 14 same-sex couples who originally challenged the ban in 2008.
In an exclusive interview with NBC4, Tyler spoke about her decision.
"We're human and we went through difficult times," Tyler said. The marriage ran its course, she said.  
Tyler and Olson have known each other for 40 years and were together as a couple for 18. They were the poster couple for gay and lesbian rights.
Keep in mind that one of the early examples of non-Massachusetts residents taking advantage of their same-sex marriage law involved two Rhode Island residents who married in Massachusetts--then filed for divorce in their home state of Rhode Island, as a way to force it to recognize same-sex marriage.  Much of what has driven the same-sex marriage game (and it is a game) is an attempt to force America to say, in soothing tones, "There's nothing wrong with you.  You are just like everyone else."  It really isn't about marriage.

2 comments:

  1. If they're getting divorced in droves, then they really aren't all that different from the rest of America.

    Incidentally, the Rhode Island trick doesn't necessarily work: Iowa will allow a same-sex married couple to divorce, even though it will not allow them to marry nor recognize their marriage for any other purpose.

    Mickey Kaus dug up a report from 2006 which says that married lesbian couples are more likely to divorce than married gay male couples.

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  2. To say, "If they divorce in droves, they are no different than the rest of America" ignores one crucial possibility: that they are getting divorced at a rate, far faster than a typical marriage.

    If I recall correctly, it may be in Denmark, where gay marriage was legal, that the typical two-male marriage lasted about a year. *That* is significantly different from a typical marriage.

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