More old news here (I promise, I’m almost caught up).
Jeff Jacoby argued July 3 in The Boston Globe that 40 percent of Vermont gay civil unions involved a partner who had previously been heterosexually married. He concluded that stigmatizing the gay spouse in a straight marriage might compel the couple to remain married, thereby (supposedly) strengthening marriage as an institution.
Steve B. of Ex-Gay Watch wrote to Jacoby:
How does my committed gay relationship threaten your
marriage? I encourage you to examine all of the facts.If it is jarring that 40 percent of Vermont civil unions
involve previously married folks, the fact that 50 percent of
Vermont marriages in 2001 were remarriages must
trouble you even more. Gay marriage is less a threat
to traditional marriage than traditional marriage is
to itself.As bisexuals and ex-gays will tell you, Mr. Jacoby, when
mixed-orientation marriages survive and thrive they do
so despite — not because of — being stigmatized.
Vermont statistics sources:
Bride’s Xth marriage vs. groom’s Yth marriage
Gay civil union partners’ number of previous marriages or unions