Who Said It? Some Amazing Flip Flops on Same-Sex 'Marriage'

9:21AM EDT 7/27/2014 MICHAEL BROWN

You may be shocked at how far and how fast some major names in politics have strayed from their commitment to traditional marriage.

Are you ready to take a little test? I'm going to ask a series of short, informational questions

followed by one philosophical question, so the test is in two parts.

Part One: Informational

Who said this and when did he or she say it?

Quote: "I remain opposed to same-sex marriage. I believe marriage is an institution for the union of a man and a woman. This has been my long-standing position, and it is not being reviewed or reconsidered."

Answer: That was former President Bill Clinton in an interview with the flagship gay publication The Advocate in 1996.

Quote: "I think that the vast majority of Americans find [same-sex marriage] to be something they can't agree with. But I think most Americans are fair. And if they believe that people in committed relationships want to share their lives and, not only that, have the same rights that I do in my marriage, to decide who I want to inherit my property or visit me in a hospital, I think that most Americans would think that that's fair and that should be done."

Answer: That was former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a CBS News interview in 2003.

Quote: (Responding to the question, "Do you support gay marriage?") "No. Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage. We do not support that. That is basically the decision to be able to be able to be left to faiths and people who practice their faiths the determination what you call it."

Answer: That was Vice President (then Senator) Joe Biden, responding to a question in a 2008 presidential debate.

Quote: "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage."

Answer: That was President (then Senator) Barack Obama in a 2008 interview with MTV.

In 2004 he said, "My religious faith dictates marriage is between a man and a woman, gay marriage is not a civil right." In 2008, in an interchange hosted by Rick Warren, he said, "I believe marriage is the union between a man and a woman. As a Christian it's also a sacred union." (For the question of his earlier position from 1996, see here.)

Part Two: Philosophical

Note the dates of these positions quoted (all of them are from within the last 8 years); note some of the venues, which include gay publications (The Advocate) and gay friendly venues (MTV); and then note how clearly these opinions were expressed in opposition to redefining marriage, especially by the three men cited.

Here's the question: What caused these politicians to change their views so radically in such a short period of time that today they strongly oppose and even vilify those who hold to the positions they themselves claimed to embrace just a few short years ago?

I'll let you answer that question.

Michael Brown is author of Can You Be Gay and Christian? Responding With Love and Truth to Questions About Homosexuality and host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire on the Salem Radio Network. He is also president of FIRE School of Ministry and director of the Coalition of Conscience. Follow him at AskDrBrown on Facebook or at @drmichaellbrown on Twitter.

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Cohabitation first is new norm for unmarrieds with kids

Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY10:38a.m. EDT April 4, 2013

New report gives a fuller picture of cohabitation in the USA.



(Photo: Stockbyte)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
For first unions, cohabitation has increased
22 months is median duration of first cohabitation
Within three years of cohabiting, 40% of women had transitioned to marriage

Unmarried couples who live together are staying together longer than in the past — and more of them are having children, according to the first federal data out Thursday that details just how cohabitation is transforming families across the USA.

For almost half of women ages 15-44, their "first union" was cohabitation rather than marriage, says the report from the National Center for Health Statistics. For less than one-quarter, the first union was marriage. The report was based on in-person interviews conducted between 2006 and 2010 with 12,279 women ages 15-44.

"Instead of marriage, people are moving into cohabitation as a first union," says demographer Casey Copen, the report's lead author. "It's kind of a ubiquitous phenomenon now."

Although cohabitation and fertility have been reviewed previously, Copen says this report is the first analyzing the relationship between the two, and the first from the federal government to give detailed data on how long cohabiting relationships last. Among the findings:

-- As a first union, 48% of women cohabited with their male partner, up from 43% in 2002 and 34% in 1995.

-- 23% of first unions were marriages, down from 30% in 2002 and 39% in 1995. The percentage of women who cohabited as a first union increased for all races and ethnic groups, except Asian women. Among Hispanics, the percentage increased 57%; for whites, 43%; for blacks, 39%.

-- 22 months is the median duration of first cohabitation, up from 20 months in 2002 and 13 months in 1995.

-- 19% of women became pregnant and gave birth in the first year of a first premarital cohabitation.

-- Within three years of cohabiting, 40% of women had transitioned to marriage; 32% remained living together; 27% had broken up.

"The United States has long had the shortest cohabiting relationships of any wealthy nation and now these relationships are lengthening," says sociologist Andrew Cherlin of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Demographers say education plays a huge role in how these romantic relationships play out.

The new data show 70% of women without a high school diploma cohabited as a first union, compared with 47% of those with a bachelor's degree or higher. Among women ages 22-44 with higher education, their cohabitations were more likely to transition to marriage within years (53%), compared with 30% for those who didn't graduate high school.

"What we're seeing here is the emergence of children within cohabiting unions among the working class and the poor," Cherlin says. "They have high standards for marriage and they don't think they can meet them for now, but increasingly, it's not stopping them from having a child. Having children within cohabiting unions is much more common among everybody but the college educated."

"Cohabitation is a common part of family formation in the United States, and serves both as a step toward marriage and as an alternative to marriage," the report says.

Mark Mather, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit research organization, says education is the "main determining factor of whether this is a transition to marriage or maybe a short-term union."

"Those with less education are much more likely to break up," he says. "They may enter a second or third cohabiting union. There tends to be a lot more instability."

Sociologist Sarah Hayford of Arizona State University in Tempe, who studies cohabiting relationships, says they are complicated.

"It seems like cohabiting unions are playing different roles for different people," she says.

LIVING TOGETHER

After three years of living together without marriage, couples:

PERCENTAGE

MARRY

REMAIN COHABITING

BREAK UP

0

10

20

30

40

50

40.3

32.2

27.4

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Survey of Family Growth 2006-10

Cathy Payne, USA TODAY

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