It’s become fashionable to knock marriage. The divorce rate in America hovers at around fifty percent, and an increasing number of couples are ignoring that legal ritual, and just living together.
So when the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts delivered its powerful ruling granting same sex couples the right to marry, some cultural critics might have wondered why anyone would want to bother. The answer is simple. For all its perceived shortcomings, marriage offers a host of legal, financial and social benefits that anchor a couple’s commitment and protect it from the fickleness of public opinion. For those who live together without it the institution matters. But many others want things left as they are. The latest assault on Fortress Marriage.
Guests:
Cheryl Jacques, Massachusetts State Senator
Michael Bronski, visiting scholar of Women’s and Gender Studies at Dartmouth College and author, “The Pleasure Principle: Sex, Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom”
Ronald Crews, President, Massachusetts Family Institute
Gloria Bailey and Linda Davies, plaintiffs in Goodridge et al v. Department of Public Health