The Marriage Effect

[This is my reply to a letter-to-the-editor in a local newspaper, The Daily Review, in Towanda, PA]

After I read Jeff Deutschle's letter, "Does marriage really matter?," (The Daily Review, Sept. 3, 2015), I checked the date to see if a temporal anomaly had transported be back to the 1950s. Nope -- I was still in the 2nd decade of the 21st century.

Deutschle started by citing a study, "The Marriage Effect: Money or Parenting?," and claimed that, "children raised by married parents typically do better in life on almost every available economic and social measure." This seems like a reasonable conclusion because of potentially increased income and parental engagement, and the sharing of responsibilities between parents. Then Deutschle regresses back to the 1950s with, "Married parents have gender specific roles." I was expecting him to also cite "The Good Wife's Guide" from a 1955 Housekeeping Monthly that advises women to "have dinner ready", "clear away clutter", "minimize all noise", and "a good wife always knows her place."

Deutschle began his letter mentioning the recent Supreme Court ruling (Obergefell v. Hodges) on same-sex marriage, cites "The Marriage Effect" study, then drones on about "gender specific roles," which finally shows the real intent of his letter -- opposition to same-sex marriage with a subtext of homophobia. Interestingly, "The Marriage Effect" study that he cites gives no opinion on gender and argues that two parents, regardless of sex, are generally better than one.

A Columbia Law School project identified 77 scholarly peer-reviewed studies about the "well-being of children with gay or lesbian parents." Of those studies, 73 concluded that these children "fare no worse than other children," and that "this research forms an overwhelming scholarly consensus, based on over three decades of peer-reviewed research, that having a gay or lesbian parent does not harm children." Another study in Social Science Research, "Scientific consensus, the law, and same sex parenting outcomes," (Sept. 2015, vol.53) concluded that "outcomes for children of same-sex parents is marked by scientific consensus that they experience 'no differences' compared to children from other parental configurations."

Deutschle concludes with, "So let's do our homework and put our kids in the best youth programs we can find." I agree. Take your children out of the Trail Life Troop with its antiquated ideas and have them join the modern world. The Boy Scouts finally have and the Girl Scouts have always been there

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Good Wife Training Guide

JLF