Reengineering the Family
Heather MacDonald has an outstanding article in National Review on the impact of artificial reproductive technology on the family. Every time a homosexual couple conceives a child, there is another parent offstage somewhere whose sperm or egg has allowed conception to occur (and, in the case of male homosexuals, whose womb has allowed gestation to […]
Dr J’s podcast on Oprah and Bristol
Oprah was dumbfounded by Bristol Palin’s abstinence pledge. I analyze both women in this new podcast. You and I know that if Bristol had said, “I want to be president of the US,” Oprah would not have said, “Aren’t you setting yourself up for failure?” But that is exactly what she said when Bristol voiced […]
Maggie weighs in on the new study…
Maggie Gallagher reacts to the new study purporting to show that the gender of parents doesn’t matter to the well-being of children. Back in the 1990s, when I went into the public square and said, “Marriage really matters because children need a mom and a dad,” I wasn’t permitted to rest my case on vague […]
Politics Illustrated: Social and Fiscal Conservatives
David Boaz at Cato and Ramesh Ponnuru at NRO are going back and forth on whether social conservatives or fiscal conservatives are more significant to the general conservative coalition and Republican Party. (I guess that is the sub-text.) I have a couple of things to add: 1. Social conservatives in Congress tend to be more reliable […]
Same Sex unions less monogamous: NYT
No, this headline did not come from me, or NOM, or any other advocate of natural marriage. The NYT, well-known social conservative mouth-piece, reported: When Rio and Ray married in 2008, the Bay Area women omitted two words from their wedding vows: fidelity and monogamy….
Statement from Andy Pugno
The Catholics for the Common Good website reports this statement from Ron Prentice and Andy Pugno: “What may be lost in all the sensationalism of the past two and a half weeks of trial is that the burden of proof to invalidate Prop 8 lies squarely with the plaintiffs. They cannot win unless they prove […]
Walking and Thinking about Abortion and Marriage
At this past weekend’s West Coast Walk for Life, I got to think about the connection between the abortion issue and the marraige issue. I have long thought that the life issues and the marriage issues are related, deeply connected at the philosophical level. The handful of protestors made the connection with their little chant: “Racist, […]
“Bump:” resolving unplanned pregnancies
“Bump” is a new internet reality show that follows three women through their decision-making around unplanned pregnancies. This series is being produced by students at John Paul the Great Catholic University in San Diego. Some of these students have been involved in Ruth INstitute activities. Check it out!
A (slightly) nerdy explanation for the economic downturn
Fear the Boom and Bust: A Hayek v Keynes rap anthem My friends know I’m an economics nerd, so they’ll forgive me for going (slightly) off-topic. Full disclosure: one of the producers of this vid is Russ Roberts, a friend of mine, going back to my post-doc days at the University of Chicago!
Which is the Advocate and Which is the Journalist?
Read these two accounts of the same day in the courtroom of the Prop 8 trial. See if you can tell which one is on record as the advocate for one side, and which one is an “independent” professional journalistic account. Is this the objective account?
From Bad to Worse, according to Dale Carpenter
Dale Carpenter is a very sensible gay man, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, and an advocate of same sex marriage. He offers this analysis of the likely outcome of the Prop 8 trial. For my readers who are not regular court watchers, or trained in the law: Prof Carpenter’s analysis highlights the […]
Prop 8 Trial Report from Alliance Defense Fund
Here is the report from ADF today. As we moved into the third week of the trial, there was a sense that the winds were about to shift and, shortly before noon on the 10th day, the winds did change. After two weeks of emotional appeals, persecution of religious beliefs, and experts who were unraveled […]
Why are women having fewer babies?
I did my interview with Relevant Radio on this story. We should have podcasts up in a few days. We talked about the Demographic Winter and Demographic Bomb DVD’s. Full disclosure: I am among the experts interviewed in the Demographic Bomb.
Oprah disses Bristol ….
Oprah gives Bristol a “chance to recant” her heretical belief system that marriage, sex and childbearing belong together. Don’t you just love how Oprah disses Bristol’s choice for abstinence?!?! If she were “choosing” to abort a baby, Oprah would never allow herself to say, “you know, you may regret that someday.” If Bristol were saying, […]
Teen Pregnancy Rate Up: I wonder why…
I note with interest that Reuters interviewed representatives of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research wing of Planned Parenthood. “Its all the fault of those Big Bad Social Conservatives.” Oddly enough, Reuters did not interview anyone from the abstinence education movement. I wonder why? Perhaps they dont’ know where to find Leslee Unruh at the […]
Putting the pastors on the stand….
The last “witness” for the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 trial was a video of a simulcast done at Pastor Jim Garlow’s Skyline Church. As you read this AP story, you will see that the point of showing the tape was to try to discredit Pastor Garlow. What the story doesn’t tell you is that […]
The Curious Case of the Incurious Economists
I just found out that I have been published over at The American Thinker. I’m very excited, as they have very intelligent readers over there. Here is the beginning of the article. Normally, economists and libertarians take pride in tracking the changes in incentives as far through society as possible. Yet on the subject of […]
Speaking of Maggie Gallagher
Her column today is really good. Do we Care about Boys? she wonders. every sign that boys or men are hurting gets determinedly turned around into a happy news story of female success. The disconnect between the happy headlines and the reality underneath will only be solved by women. The irony of men is that […]
The Great Debate Goes to Colorado
My friend and colleague Maggie Gallagher will be debating same sex marriage at the University of Colorado. She will be debating Jonathan Rauch. The debate will take place on Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Cristol Chemistry building on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder, hosted by the Catholic Campus Ministry […]
If sexual orientation is the same as race…
If sexual orientation is the same as race, why don’t we ever hear about African Americans renouncing blackness and embracing whiteness? Or some other race? (see previous post.) Just wondering.
The Miller Jenkins case
The judge in the Miller Jenkins custody case has given Lisa Miller 30 days to appear in court. A judge gave a Virginia woman at the center of a long-running lesbian custody dispute 30 days to appear in court with her 7-year-old daughter or face possible arrest. Judge William Cohen of Vermont Family Court made […]
children raised by same sex couples
Judith Stacy and Timothy Biblarz have a publication coming out in February, claiming that children raised by same sex couples do as well as those raised by opposite sex couples. No, I have not seen the study yet. I’ll let you know what I think, once the study has been published and I’ve had a […]
West Coast Walk for Life!
Note the “Berekeley Students for Life” sign! We are very excited about participating in the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco on Saturday. I will be driving up from San Diego with a vanload of college students from Southern California. I hope the weather cooperates for our long drive tomorrow! This photo came […]
Whatever Happened to Gay Pride?
From accounts on both sides, I conclude: the Prop 8 trial has been a seven day orgy of self-pity. An odd strategy….
A San Diego Citizen speaks out about Mayor Jerry Sanders
Yesterday’s Prop 8 trial testimony was dominated by the emotional San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, The anti-Prop 8 attorneys showed a video of the Mayor’s news conference from September 2007, when he broke down in tears as he gushed to the world that he now supported same sex marriage. Learning that his own daughter was […]
An unusual custody case?
That is what the AP calls it. But actually this dispute between two women will become more and more common, unfortunately. A Santa Cruz court is slated to hear a custody dispute between former lesbian partners in which the biological mother has become romantically involved with the sperm donor father of her 10-month-old twins. Ah […]
A Connecticut civil rights lawyer…
has no use for Judge Walker. Writing in the CT Law Tribune, New Haven attorney Karen Lee Torre takes off the gloves: Perry v. Schwarzenegger, is a desperate attempt by gay marriage proponents to now get a federal court to gift over to them what they failed to gain in the legislatures and at the […]
Speaking of Roe v Wade…
The Roe v Wade anniversary is coming up. The annual March for Life will be held in Washington DC. The Walk for Life will be held in San Francisco. We will be doing a Ruth Institute Road Trip. Jamie and I will be driving up from Southern California with a vanload of college students to […]
Point by Point rebuttal of Ted Olson’s Newsweek piece
The American Spectator has a point by point reply to Ted Olson’s unpaid advertisement in last week’s Newsweek. Many of Jeffrey Lord’s arguments use the analogy with polygamy. Every argument made today for removing the gendered requirement for marriage can be used tomorrow to remove the “two persons” requirement for marriage. His bottom line argument is one […]
About the Prop 8 judge
AP has a news story about Judge Vaughn Walker, who is presiding over the Prop 8 trial. A few tidbits: Walker first was nominated to a federal judgeship in the waning days of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and then again in the early days of President George H.W. Bush. He was finally confirmed by the Senate […]
Application of Neuhaus’ Law
Richard John Neuhaus, late editor of First Things, claimed authorship of this law, “When Orthodoxy becomes optional, orthodoxy eventually becomes prohibited.” The ever-fractious Church of England gives us a glimpse at the next step after Neuhaus’ Law: When Orthodoxy becomes optional, heterodoxy becomes subsidized: Bishops and senior clergy will debate at next month’s General Synod whether the […]
Prop 8 Trial Report from Catholics for the Common Good
I just received this report from Bill May, Chairman of Catholics for the Common Good: To summarize the first week of the trial about traditional marriage and marriage supporters, the plaintiffs have been trying to make a case that there is no rational reason to restrict marriage to just a man and a woman. On […]
“Modern marriage:” Women marry down…
This story from NPR, commenting on a Pew Trust report, reports that an increasing number of women are marrying men with lower education and incomes than themselves. (I did my Issues, Etc. interview on this topic today. The podcast should be up in a day or two.) Pew is pretty fair, and so is NPR. They are just reporting. However, you can hear the subtext: this is the feminist dream come true. Men and women are equal, except women are better. I mean, it had to happen. We have had a pretty steady drumbeat in favor of women’s acheivement for the last 40 years, with no comparable encouragement for men. What exactly did we think would happen? all of a sudden, the process of women’s increasing labor force commitment and educational acheivement would cease the instant we achieved gender parity? But the real question is this: Has this made people happy? Has it made women happy? according to some very provocative research by Dr. Brad Wilcox at the University of Virginia, the happiest wives are those with a combination of traditional and progressive attitudes. The happiest married mothers are those who stay at home, whose husbands earn most of the income and whose husbands are emotionally engaged with them. Not those married moms who have made "equality" their top priority. BTW, the link to Dr. wilcox’s paper is from the set of readings we put together for our student conference last summer. I have allowed you into the inner sanctum of the Ruth Institute’s reading list! (Cue scary music. or something.) Anyhow, you can get more info about our student conference from last summer in San Diego, here. Info about our upcoming student conference at BYU is here.
More nonsense from the LA Times
The LA Times editorial board nimbly changes the subject when it’s pet project of promoting same sex marriage isn’t going well. In this editorial, they say they are sorry the subject of marriage quality came up. Memo to LA Times: it came up because the pro-ssm team brought it up. Listen to the LA Whines:
A Leading Judicial Indicator?
Dale Carpenter, law professor at University of Minnesota and advocate of same sex marriage, is not encouraged by the Supreme Court’s overturn of Judge Walker. Here is Carpenter’s analysis from Volokh Conspiracy: While the Supreme Court’s per curiam opinion today deals with legal matters apart from SSM, it is a potentially ominous development for the pro-SSM litigants. […]
More Bench Memos
Ed Whelan continues his analysis of the Prop 8 trial. Is this about Prop 8 or about Olson’s and Boies’ egos? the decision by Ted Olson and David Boies and their Hollywood backers to file a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8 as a violation of the federal Constitution was highly controversial among many advocates of same-sex […]
What Lisa Miller Has to Do With Same Sex Marriage Part 3: Therapeutic Malpractice?
I decided to break this very long post up into three parts. This is part 3 analyzing this interview with Lisa Miller, and the significance of the Miller Jenkins case for whether we really ought to go careening over the cliff and redefine marriage. See Part 1 and Part 2. Of all the appalling things […]
What Lisa Miller Has to Do with Same Sex Marriage Part 1
This 2008 interview with Lisa Miller takes on new significance, in the light of the fact that she has gone into hiding to prevent the forced transfer of custody of her daughter to Janet Jenkins. The Miller Jenkins case also has significance for the Prop 8 trial. This case gives a taste of how redefining parenthood […]
Question-begging by the LA Times
George Skelton of the LA Times opines that “the notion that baby-making is the principal purpose of marriage in 21st century America is plain absurd. Let’s just say that upfront.” Well that’s nice. How does he say that with such confidence?
When The Political is NOT Personal
Frank Schubert, head of the public affairs firm that did yeoman’s work on the Prop 8 campaign, has a sister who is a lesbian. This story from the Fresno Bee, does credit to both Frank, and his sister Anne Marie. Frank Schubert was the consultant behind recent campaigns to ban gay marriage in California and […]
Just Born that way?
I just got this from a friend at the Minnesota Family Council. This is one man’s “take” on whether it even matters whether we’re “born that way.”
Why the SCOTUS decision could matter
Ed Whelan at NRO analyzes the significance of the Supreme Court’s overturn of the decision to televise the Prop 8 trial. First, it is some reflection on how the Supremes will view Judge Walker’s (lack of) impartiality. the majority’s stinging rebuke of Judge Walker’s procedural irregularities strongly signals that at least five justices have serious […]
SCOTUS rebukes Judge Walker
Ed Whelan over at NRO has posted excerpts from the Supreme Court’s ruling on televising the Prop 8 trial. I’m not a SCOTUS-watcher, but this does seem to me to be a pretty serious rebuke of Judge Walker’s judgement in making 11th hour legal revisions to allow the unprecendented broadcasting of a federal trial. The […]
We have a really good problem …
I have a really good problem, and I’m going to need your help to solve it. As you know, the Ruth Institute promotes lifelong married love to college students. We held our first student conference last August, here in San Diego. The students from Brigham Young University who attended our summer conference were inspired to […]
What Lisa Miller has to do with Same Sex Marriage Part 2: Who counts as lesbian?
I decided to break this very long post up into three parts. this is part 2 analyzing this interview with Lisa Miller, and the significance of the Miller Jenkins case for whether we really ought to go careening over the cliff and redefine marriage. See Part 1 and Part 3. This case is particularly relevant to […]
Parental Rights and Same Sex Marriage
One of the commercials from the Prop 8 campaign has been shown to several witnesses. It is instructive to see their responses. For those of you from outside CA, this was the commercial that showed that parents from MA were upset by what their second grader was being taught about homosexuality without their permission. On […]
The Show Trial will Not be Televised after all…
According to Protect Marriage General Counsel Andy Pugno: We just got great news from the US Supreme Court: they granted a stay to prevent televising the Prop 8 trial! We have argued from the start that there is no precedent for Judge Walker’s decision to allow the proceedings to be televised and posted on YouTube, […]
news from the Prop 8 trial
Ron Prentice, the Executive Director of ProtectMarriage.com, issued a report on the Prop 8 trial yesterday. I recieved this report via an e-mail update from Catholics for the Common Good. I have their I have permission to quote Ron’s comments. You can subscribe to their newsletter here. (Don’t forget, you can also subscribe to the […]
More from Quebec
The Quebec Policy Against Homophobia gives itself these missions and permissions: On Page 20, the State gives itself the power to intervene in all parts of civil society, including the most private and intimate. “awareness-raising and educational activities must publicize the various forms of homophobia, including the most insidious. It is important to target the various […]
What’s at stake in ssm: the news from Quebec
The news from Quebec is not encouraging for those who love liberty. In their new Quebec Policy Against Homophobia: Moving Together toward social equality, Provincial government of Quebec just gave itself permission to take all necessary steps to wipe out, not just “homophobia,” but also “heterosexism.” In the opening message from the minister of Justice, […]
What’s at stake in redefining marriage: More power for the state
Expanding the reach of the anti-discrimination law, is almost certainly a side effect of redefining marriage. The one and only argument for ssm is the equality argument. it’s crude form, which we saw during the Prop 8 campaign, is “you’re being mean to us. you’re hurting our feelings. it’s not fair.” incredibly enough, that is […]
Gay Teen Worried He Might Be a Christian
My readers will get a kick out of the parody from The Onion. At first glance, high school senior Lucas Faber, 18, seems like any ordinary gay teen. He’s a member of his school’s swing choir, enjoys shopping at the mall, and has sex with other males his age. But lately, a growing worry has […]
“Prof Cott damaged her case.” Andy Pugno
According to Andy Pugno, General Counsel for Protect Marriage, the plaintiff’s star witness,Harvard Law Prof Nancy Cott, damaged their case. 1. she admitted that marriage is more than a private arrangement, but has social significance 2. she admitted that “the public interest in promoting the raising of children by both a mother and father is […]
Nancy Cott’s testimony
From the AP: In her second day of testimony, Nancy Cott, a U.S. history professor and the author of a book on marriage as a public institution, disputed a statement by a defense lawyer that states have a compelling interest to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples for the sake of procreation. Cott said marriage also […]
From Andy Pugno, General Counsel for Protect Marriage
After the first day of the trial, Andy Pugno posted these observations: We’re off. The first day of trial is concluded and we are beginning to see the outlines of the plaintiffs’ case emerge. Emotion was the order of the day as our opponents took the stand to describe examples of “awkward” situations and social […]
Are the Plaintiffs in Perry v Schwarzenegger really gay?
Just to drive home the point of the previous post, one of the plaintiffs in Perry v Schwarzenegger, Sandra Stier, was married to a man for 12 years. Was she “really” a lesbian all that time, and just didn’t know it? (The case is named after one of the plaintiffs, that is, one of the […]
Who Counts as Gay? Why Does it Matter?
The quiz in this week’s Ruth Institute newsletter asks “what percentage of the population is gay?” The answer turns out to be a resounding, “It depends.” It depends on whether you’re talking about men or women, whether you’re looking at urban areas or not, and most significantly, what you mean by gay in the first […]
The Prop 8 Trial and the New Theory of Politics
The Prop 8 Trial and the New Theory of Politics “They reject the political determination of will by the people… the idea that the act of voting is an act of national will is decisively rejected. The plebiscite is to express and enforce the concordance between the objective will of the people embodied in the […]
Long run consequences of same sex marriage: who knows?
I have been arguing for some time that we need to take the long run consequences of same sex marriage seriously. I’ve argued that same sex marriage will put incentives into place and set forces into motion that cannot be easily undone or predicted. In particular, I’ve argued that same sex marriage will undermine the […]
The Dangerous Olsen Boies Precedent
The Prop 8 trial that starts on Monday is not simply about overturning Prop 8. It is also about: 1. whether we will have same sex marriage nationwide, 2. whether the losers in an election can go into court to overturn it 3. whether the courts can demand that participants in a political campaign have […]
Maggie’s take on the Prop 8 trial.
In her syndicated column, my friend and colleague Maggie Gallagher makes these points about the upcoming Prop 8 trial. 1. The constitutionality of Proposition 8 should be a matter of law, not a matter of facts. But Judge Walker has ruled that they will have a trial about the facts. Ordinarily, findings of fact by a […]
Fair Trial for Prop 8?
Judge Walker’s decision to televise the Prop 8 trial gravely prejudices the outcome of the trial, Bench Memos on National Review Online. In addition to its illegality (see Part 2), Judge Walker’s televising order threatens unfair and irreparable—and wildly asymmetric—prejudice to the parties and witnesses supporting Proposition 8. For that reason, his order should be […]
Speaking of the Iowa Fiasco…
Regular readers of my blog and newsletter will recall that I analyzed the Supreme Court of Iowa’s ruling that gendered marriage violates the state constitution. You could pretty much predict how the court would rule, by the decisions they made about what counted as permissible evidence. the trial court refused to admit five out of […]
NJ defeats same sex marriage bill
It wasn’t even close: 20-14 in the NJ Senate. My colleague at the National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown, predicted this.
8.5 New Year’s Resolutions to help marriage
Ruth Institute newsletter subscribers got my New Year’s Resolutions, 8.5 ways you can help marriage in 2010. Hint: if you aren’t a Ruth Institute newsletter subscriber, you can subscribe here. It is totally free. So here are 8.5 suggested resolutions for the new year of 2010. 1. I will speak up for marriage, and for sexual […]
The all encompassing state and same sex marriage
More from Douglas Farrow’s Touchstone article. BTW, the book he references, A Nation of Bastards is available from the Ruth Institute Reading List, along with a bunch of other good books. I have been making this point for some time: the immediate impact of same sex marriage is very far from its full long-run impact, […]
The Audacity of the State
Douglas Farrow makes the argument that far from having “separation of church and state,” the modern world has acheived precisely the opposite. By melding the functions of civil society into the state, the state has become de facto, the religion of the society, and one that brooks no opposition. The two major area where this […]
Bench Memos on National Review Online
Ed Whelan is sounding the alarm against the outrageous plan of Judge Vaughn Walker to televise the Prop 8 case. Bench Memos on National Review Online.
