Some Gay Couples Are Having Trouble Obtaining Divorces
Gay couples had to struggle mightily to win the right to marry or form civil unions. Now, some are finding that breaking up is hard to do, too. In Rhode Island, for example, the state's top court ruled in December that gays married in neighboring Massachusetts can't get divorced here because lawmakers have never defined marriage as anything but a union between a man and woman. In Missouri, a judge is deciding whether a lesbian married in Massachusetts can get an annulment. "We all know people who have gone through divorces. At the end of that long and unhappy period, they have been able to breathe a sigh of relief," said Cassandra Ormiston of Rhode Island, who is splitting from her wife, Margaret Chambers. But "I do not see that on my horizon, that sigh of relief that it's over." Over the past four years, Massachusetts has been the only state where gay marriage is legal, while nine other states allow gay couples to enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships that offer many of the rights and privileges of marriage.
Fewer divorces better for Utah coffers
A new study suggests that by keeping even a small number of troubled marriages intact, Utah taxpayers could save millions of dollars. "Cautious estimates" show that if couples stay together and off publicly provided welfare, the state would save $276 million a year, according to a study by four national groups. "This is really a large amount of money," said Bill Duncan, director of the Center for Family and Society. The center was launched Tuesday in conjunction with the study and is part of the conservative think tank Sutherland Institute in Salt Lake City. The study, which counted households headed by single women, found that "family fragmentation" costs the nation $112 billion a year. Because people in these households are more likely to be impoverished, they are also more likely to rely on assistance programs, according to the study.
Polygamy gets more attention
The hundreds of women and children from a Texas polygamist compound shown streaming onto school buses over the weekend are the latest public face of polygamy.But they're hardly the first.The secretive communities of people with multiple marriages, usually religious, have gotten plenty of unwanted attention in recent years. Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who built the compound, is already awaiting trial. And the HBO show "Big Love" depicts a polygamist family in Utah.For all that attention, it appears the number of people in polygamist communities has actually increased.Polygamist marriages have been growing steadily since the 1800s, says Mary Batchelor, acting director of Principle Voices, a nonprofit group that advocates for Utah decriminalizing polygamy. She says most polygamists are living within the general population."You wouldn't be able to tell them apart from anyone else," she says.There is no census data on polygamy, but Principle Voices estimates that there are 37,000 people, including children, who live in polygamy in the western United States and British Columbia.
Terms And Conditions >> Privacy >> Contact Us
|