Michigan ruling is ‘nail in the coffin’ for anti-gay study

Following an exhaustive trial which included extensive expert testimony, U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman found Michigan's ban on equal marriage rights violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling also debunked the flawed anti-equality research of Mark Regnerus as "not worthy of serious consideration."

Regnerus is a conservative sociologist at the University of Texas, who wrote a study supposedly showing that children raised in same-sex families are ‘worse off.’ Wayne Besen, the founder of the website “Truth Wins Out,” wrote when the study was published that the research cites “’data purporting to uncover “numerous, consistent differences, especially between children of women who have had a lesbian relationship and those with still-married (heterosexual) biological parents.’ The message of this study is that in several categories the children of gay parents are worse off. It is critical to note that this study flies in the face of decades of research that comes to the polar opposite conclusion.”

"This ruling from a Reagan-appointed judge continues a string of diverse judicial appointees all coming to the same conclusion, that denying same-sex couples the equal right to marry is unconstitutional," said Brian Silva, MEUSA Executive Director. "In addition, under the Court's examination, the already discredited Regnerus study was finally laid to rest as 'entirely unbelievable.'"

"Judge Friedman's ruling is a case study in civil rights in action. He weighed all the evidence carefully and reached his conclusion clearly and fairly, that the Constitution's guarantees of equal protection apply not just to some of us but to all of us -- including the children being raised by same-sex couples," said John Lewis, Marriage Equality USA Legal and Policy Director. "In particular, the judge in this case thoughtfully examined the research on LGBT families and found that the science is clear: children fare just as well whether they are being raised by same-sex or opposite-sex couples."

The University of Texas and its Sociology department disavowed Regnerus’ research and his published study while he was in Michigan testifying in the marriage equality trial presided over by Judge Friedman.

Quoting the U.S. Supreme Court, Friedman concluded powerfully with the fervent hope that the children of same-sex couples will grow up “to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives.”

The Michigan ruling has been stayed by the Circuit Court of Appeals. The stay may be temporary, or may last until the case is heard on appeal by the state of Michigan.

Staff report, including content from a Marriage Equality USA press release.

The Gayly – March 24, 2014 @ 12pm