Divorce Ban Protects Marriage, Like It or Not

image
Published: 07 Dec, 2009
Updated: 13 Oct, 2022
3 min read

 In a tart response to the Proposition 8 controversy, writer and web manager John Marcotte has made a tongue in cheek effort to encourage Californians in taking all measures to protect marriage, including outlawing divorce in California. He is currently gathering signatures outside of California's Walmarts, hoping that the same logic of protecting marriage will extend to support his initiative. While it is unclear whether Mr. Marcotte’s efforts are serious in nature, Californians have to approve the measure (assuming it makes the ballot) to maintain the logic behind their vote to outlaw gay marriage.

 There are two arguments against gay marriage. One is religious and the other is social. The religious motive is summarized by saying that some participants of some religions believe that God prohibits gay activity overall (let alone marriage), and then others believe that their founding documents, like The Bible, specifically limit marriage to heterosexual couples. While these arguments may certainly be important in the minds of some voters, they cannot be a policy consideration if California wants to continue to separate church and state. Indeed, the Church of Latter Day Saints and an array of other faith-based organizations that provided the fiscal support for the Prop 8 campaign likely violated IRS rules limiting political activity in tax-exempt charitable organizations. The second argument against gay marriage is social, that homosexual couples should not be married, as a matter of policy. Supporters of this position typically volunteer junk data on the weakness of homosexual marriages, that children raised by homosexual parents are harmed by the parenting, etc. Since there have been no peer reviewed studies in national, reputable journals to support these findings, we have to assume the social bias against gay marriage boils down to a ‘yuck’ factor felt by ignorant, bigoted or indifferent voters.

 Mr. Marcotte’s response perfectly counters pro Prop-8 logic. He asks California voters to take their policy to the extreme, something California voters do on a regular basis. Not only should an initiative like this please the religious supporters for Prop-8, it tests the willingness of yuck-factor voters to stand by their assertion of the sanctity of marriage.

The key here is that, as a matter of reality, we know that few heterosexual Californians, or Americans, have an unflinching belief in the sanctity of marriage. No voters in any states launched action to have marriage game shows banned from broadcast, least of all in the state of California. Indeed, episodes of The Bachelor were filmed in California. By my count so far every marriage but two (both from The Bachelorette) created on television failed within days or months of the conclusion of their commercial component. Clearly, Californians do not have moral objections about marriages with flagrant financial motives, or objections to marriages that exist for television purposes only. California’s tacit acceptance of marriage in an entertainment context drastically undercut’s the state’s supposed devotion to marriage’s sanctity.

Interestingly, comparing Pew Research Center data to GayDemographics.org data, it is notable that states whose policies are the least gay friendly (about the same distribution as the ‘red’ voting patterns on a political map) have some of the highest rates of divorcees in the nation. Here, Utah ironically leads the way with 13% of the nation’s divorced men and 16% of the nation’s divorced women. The same state that most aggressively seek to keep same sex couples from marrying fail to keep their heterosexual couples together. Hmm.

To correct this gap in logic, Californian voters should approve the initiative against divorce. While it is not the reciprocal of banning same sex couples from marrying, such a move supplies the missing substance behind an otherwise hollow, phony devotion to the idea of marriage as a hallowed institution. 

 

 

IVP Donate

Latest articles

CA capitol building dome with flags.
Why is CA Senator Mike McGuire Trying to Kill the Legal Cannabis Industry?
California’s legal cannabis industry is under mounting pressure, and in early June, state lawmakers and the governor appeared poised to help. A bill to freeze the state’s cannabis excise tax at 15% sailed through the State Assembly with a unanimous 74-0 vote. The governor’s office backed the plan. And legal cannabis businesses, still struggling to compete with unregulated sellers and mounting operating costs, saw a glimmer of hope....
03 Jul, 2025
-
7 min read
I voted buttons
After First RCV Election, Charlottesville Voters Back the Reform: 'They Get It, They Like It, They Want to Do It Again'
A new survey out of Charlottesville, Virginia, shows overwhelming support for ranked choice voting (RCV) following the city’s first use of the system in its June Democratic primary for City Council. Conducted one week after the election, the results found that nearly 90% of respondents support continued use of RCV....
03 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Crowd in Time Square.
NYC Exit Survey: 96% of Voters Understood Their Ranked Choice Ballots
An exit poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the nonprofit better elections group FairVote finds that ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to be supported by a vast majority of voters who find it simple, fair, and easy to use. The findings come in the wake of the city’s third use of RCV in its June 2025 primary elections....
01 Jul, 2025
-
6 min read