In this video from PBS’ Newshour, David Blankenhorn of the conservative Institute for American Values and Elaine Tyler May of the University of Minnesota discuss new census data, divorce, and same-sex marriage.
Once again, let me make this very clear. The South, and anti-gay states, have the highest rates of divorce, the highest rates of the use of pornography, the highest rates of uninsured, the highest rates of homelessness, and on, and on, and on.
The Northeast has the lowest rates of divorce, the lowest rates of child homelessness, the lowest rates of uninsured, and on and on and on.
And, to hammer it home, where is same-sex marriage legal? Mostly the Northeast, where America was born.
Blankenhorn, you will remember, appeared as a witness in the Prop 8 trial — in support of Prop 8. His testimony actually damaged the efforts of Prop 8 supporters, and Judge Vaughn Walker ruled Blankenhorn was not qualified as an expert witness, classifying his testimony as “unreliable and entitled to essentially no weight.”
Blankenhorn in support of Prop 8, had actually testified saying, “I believe that adopting same-sex marriage would be likely to improve the well-being of gay and lesbian households and their children.”
Pity. His testimony should have been given a little more weight!
Elaine Tyler May’s bio at the University of Minnesota states she “is a historian of the United States in the twentieth century whose work centers on the intersections of gender, sexuality, domestic culture and politics. Her scholarship explores the ways in which issues normally considered part of private life – such as consumerism, and leisure pursuits – reflect, express, and influence American political, cultural, and social values. Her books and articles examine changing expectations for marriage in the early 20th century, family and sexuality in the cold war era, the history of women, and the history of childlessness and reproduction in America.”
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