Oklahoma, Where Divorce Comes Sweeping Down the Plains

categories: Gay Marriage, Marriage Equality, State LGBT News

Published September 28, 2009 @ 06:58PM PT

Divorce

When it comes to looking at the issue of marriage equality, it's pretty interesting to look at Oklahoma and Massachusetts. Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage five years ago, and has been out in the forefront of LGBT rights more than almost any other state. It has the lowest divorce rate in the country.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, has passed a statewide constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. In 2008, every single county in Oklahoma voted against President Barack Obama. Both of Oklahoma's U.S. Senators are as anti-LGBT as politicians come. And the state is home to one of the most offensive politicians in the country, Rep. Sally Kern, who has said that gay marriage was as threatening as terrorism. Funny, then, that Oklahoma has one of the highest divorce rates in the entire country.

New statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show that Oklahoma has the highest rate of residents who have been married three times or more. Oddly enough, Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh -- both members of the family values crowd who are thrice married -- aren't from Oklahoma. But still...it's a bit illustrative, to say the least, that the more a state goes ballistic over the idea of same-sex marriage, the more likely they are to have behemoth divorce rates.

And this isn't a new phenomenon, either. Ten years ago studies were out that suggested states in the "Bible Belt" couldn't keep a handle on their divorce rates. Looks like the more things have changed over the past decade, the more things have stayed the same in some regions of the country.

Or perhaps better put, states that legalize marriage equality are just better at fostering loving relationships that last.

(Photo courtesy of Cosmic Kitty's photostream on Flickr.)

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Comments (5)

It's unfortunate that Oklahoma has Senators which are intolerant conservatives who have an incorrect view of LGBT rights. Massachusetts, a much better state, has done the correct thing by recognizing same-sex marriage and having a low divorce rate while Oklahoma has an amendment to their constitution banning the important right of same-sex marriage. Not to be too mean to the "Bible Belt" but tolerance and progressivism must increase for divorces to fall.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 09/28/2009 @ 07:12PM PT
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Love the comparisions of this article! But then again I'm partial to most any article that makes reference to the "Bible Belt" as stagnant!

Just the stats of the southern state's staggering divorce rate alone is very thought provoking.

Posted by Lisa Sullivan on 09/28/2009 @ 10:36PM PT
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Im not one bit surprised at those findings...

Its only logical that where the fundietards gather...

Hypocrisy abounds.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/28/2009 @ 10:53PM PT
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Gee, my state has a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage, yet the divorce rate is less than one point greater than Massachusetts. Looking at the numbers, I am curious as to whether there is a statistically significant difference in the rates between states as the spread is only about 3/1000.

Posted by Thomas Berg on 09/29/2009 @ 03:53PM PT
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And what state would that be mr. berg ?

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/29/2009 @ 04:01PM PT
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Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.