For Immediate Release

May 16, 2004

The Alternatives to Marriage Project celebrates this joyful date on which some of our members have gained the right to choose whether or not to marry. We've adopted a position statement on this issue:

The Alternatives to Marriage Project firmly supports same-sex marriage because current law discriminates against same-sexcouples. We also believe that legalizing same-sex marriage is only one step in a broader movement toward recognizing family diversity in all its forms. While access to marriage will provide important legal protections and social recognition for those same-sex couples who choose to marry, it will not guarantee equality and fairness for unmarried people. Many of these existing inequities should be remedied by changing government policy so that it does not discriminate on the basis of marital status.

The Alternatives to Marriage Project represents a coalition of heterosexual and LBGT individuals and families who believe in freedom of choice - not only the choice of whether or not to marry, but of who can make our emergency medical decisions, share our pensions or benefits, legally co-parent our children, and more. We agree with many social scientists and legal scholars who think that marriage is an inequitable and outmoded way to distribute such rights and resources. We believe that children should not be denied benefits because of their parents' choices, and that relationships between people who are not married are no less worthy of recognition and respect.

The fact is that marriage is no longer the central institution of American family life. The number of unmarried couples living together increased tenfold between 1960 and 2000, and demographers estimate that half of all American children will spend part of their childhood in some form of family other than one with married biological parents. Rather than serving a conservative religious agenda, social policy should reflect this reality.Ê The Alternatives to Marriage Project sees this time of social and demographic transition as an extraordinary opportunity to build a broad coalition of all Americans who believe that human and civil rights should not be linked to marital status.