In this section you'll find

• What is Marriage Promotion?
• AtMP's Critiques of Marriage Promotion
• Government Funding for Marriage Promotion
• Other Critiques of Marriage Promotion

What is Marriage Promotion?

Marriage promotion is a major current in today's river of public policymaking. It includes laws, budget allocations, administrative regulations, think-tank recommendations, and operating programs - within the public sector (federal, state and local legislatures and agencies), and the private sector (nonprofit organizations and faith institutions). Marriage promotion says that different-sex couples must enter and stay in government-certified marriages to ensure the health of their children, to be economically successful, and to be responsible citizens. Marriage promotion does not tolerate alternatives: it ignores same-sex couples and extended kinship networks; it strongly suggests that single and cohabiting women will always be poor, that single or cohabiting men are irresponsible, and that single and cohabiting parents hurt their children and society. Marriage promotion did recently accept one caveat: extremely violent marriages are no good for anyone.

AtMP's Critiques of Marriage Promotion

The Alternatives to Marriage Project opposes marriage promotion in general because it further stigmatizes unmarried people and further institutionalizes discrimination against singles and diverse family forms. We believe that policies designed to help children should focus on supporting all the types of families in which children really live. We believe that people who care for one another should be supported in their efforts to build healthy, happy relationships.

AtMP strongly opposes taking taxpayer dollars out of anti-poverty programs to pay for marriage promotion. There is no evidence that it is an effective way to help people escape poverty. It diverts funds from poverty-fighting programs that have been proven to work. The public overwhelmingly opposes state interference in private family decisions.

To advance public understanding of marriage promotion and our position on it, AtMP publishes the acclaimed report Let Them Eat Wedding Rings: The Role of Marriage Promotion in Welfare Reform . It has been taught in college classes around the country, included in activist packets, and cited in academic articles. Download it for free!

Letter to U.S. Senators
Our January 2006 comments on the diversion of federal anti-poverty funds into marriage promotion.

'Babies Are Dying, But at Least Their Parents Were Wearing Wedding Rings'
Our 2001 press release condemned bonuses given to reward states for decreasing their percentage of births to unmarried parents, even when these same states had among the highest rates of child poverty and infant mortality in the country. These bonuses have since been phased out by legislators alarmed by concerns like ours.

Boosting "Marriageability" -- A Tool for Family Diversity Activists?
This essay by Dorian Solot examines whether "marriageability" is a bad word and concludes: maybe not, if it attracts funding to improve the quality of people's lives.

Government Funding for Marriage Promotion

Using anti-poverty funds for marriage promotion started with the 1996 passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (the bill that "ended welfare as we knew it"). The very first lines of text in this immense bill are "The Congress makes the following findings: (1) Marriage is the foundation of a successful society. (2) Marriage is an essential institution of a successful society which promotes the interests of children."

Since then, marriage promotion language has been inserted into a wide range of federal laws and funding programs. Some programs are specifically named "healthy marriage initiatives" or "fatherhood initiatives" (which always promote marriage), while references to healthy marriages and responsible fatherhood also abound in grants for services to refugees and Native Americans, as well as grants concerning child support and adoption. Whenever these terms are in the grant materials, local governments, nonprofits and faith institutions can use federal funds to actively promote different-sex legal marriage.

• Map of previously funded local program sites (PDF)
• Description of new healthy marriage initiatives
• A 2002 report by The Lewin Group reviewing state-level policies to promote marriage

Other Critiques of Marriage Promotion

• Legal Momentum opposes marriage promotion
• The Center for Law and Social Policy is cautiously optimistic about marriage promotion
• No Marriage Promotion in TANF!
  The Alternatives to Marriage Project was part of this campaign that opposed the initial federal mandate to states to promote marriage using welfare dollars. Though the site's calls to action are outdated, its information remains valuable.
• Kathryn Edin's article: 'Few Good Men: Why Poor Women Don't Remarry'
• 'Marriage Promotion, Reproductive Injustice, and the War Against Poor Women of Color'
  an article that delves into several aspects of the issue but begins with a great illustration of marriage hurting instead of helping one woman in poverty
• 'Reproductive Health Advocates and Marriage Promotion: Asserting a Stake in the Debate' by Cynthia Dailard of the Guttmacher Institute -- a rather helpful look at the issue from the Guttmacher/sexual health perspective