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Badgett: Same-sex couples prefer marriage

M.V. Lee Badgett

M.V. Lee Badgett, UMass Amherst economics professor and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, comments in a story about how studies show that same-sex couples prefer marriage to civil unions and choose marriage at about the same rate as traditional different-sex couples. The report also finds that couples will travel to a state that has marriage rights if they reside in a state that does not. (Bay Windows, 11/9/11)

“We see a lot of evidence that same-sex couples strongly prefer marriage over civil unions or domestic partnerships. Same-sex couples marry at higher rates in the first year they have the option than we see in civil union states, for example,” M.V. Lee Badgett, Research Director of The Williams Institute and professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “Our findings are consistent with other research showing that couples value marriage more for its social meaning than for its practical benefits.”