'I do' does not lead to 'I don't'
Mercury News
By Doug Morgan
October 7, 2008

Oct. 7 Readers' letters

Michelle Hayton's apocalyptic view regarding same-sex marriage is a case of misplaced cause and effect (Letters, Oct. 6). According to M.V. Lee Badgett, research director of the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA School of Law, data indicate that of the nine countries recognizing same-sex unions at the time of her 2004 study (including those in Scandinavia), all had falling marriage rates before the civil recognition of those same-sex unions. That study found no correlation between same-sex unions and heterosexual behavior regarding marriage rates or birth rates (non-marital or otherwise).

As Badgett stated, "Letting gay couples say 'I do' does not lead to heterosexuals saying 'I don't.' "