Newlyweds

RECENT POLITICAL developments are making marriage a legal hotbed for newlyweds and would-be newlyweds. Advocates of same-sex marriage such as the Human Rights Campaign and proponents of new covenant marriage laws such as the Christian Coalition are challenging the status quo.

Same-sex couples in cities such as New York and San Francisco are receiving essentially the same legal benefits as married couples through domestic partnership registrations. Same-sex marriages would undoubtedly create new marketing opportunities.

The Hawaii Supreme Court is considering whether same-sex couples can marry, which has prompted more than half the states to pass laws prohibiting recognition of same-sex marriage and numerous legal challenges. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act declares that no state must recognize same-sex marriages from another state.

With the expectation that Hawaii may legalize same-sex marriage, the American Civil Liberties Union says bans on same-sex marriage initiated by states violate the “full faith and credit” clause of the Constitution, which requires states to respect the laws of other states.

New covenant marriage laws impose stricter legal requirements for divorce. Arizona recently became the second state after Louisiana to pass a covenant marriage law to curtail high divorce rates. Both states now offer two kinds of marriage certificates, standard certificates allowing no-fault divorce and covenant marriages which commit both partners to the expectation that marriage is for life with few exceptions.

With a covenant marriage, both partners agree that neither one can walk away from the marriage for any reason and that they must seek professional help if there are marital problems. In general, a divorce is still possible if one partner can prove the other is guilty of adultery, physical, drug or emotional abuse, or is a convicted felon. Otherwise both partners must agree to a divorce.

Politics and religion aside, recent research indicates marriage between men and women provides newlyweds with health and economic benefits. Married people generally live longer and have more money to spend than unmarried people.

Men gain the most health benefits because they tend to engage in less risky behavior once married. When marriages end through divorce or death of the wife, men lose the associated health advantages.

Women gain the most economically through marriage. By combining their resources, married couples typically also save more money than unmarried individuals.

Women only face a higher risk of death when a marriage ends in divorce. Widows typically aren’t at a higher risk of death compared with married women because widows typically have more economic status than women who never marry.

* More than 2.3 million couples marry annually. About 80% of marriages are performed in churches or synagogues. The median age for first marriages is 24 for brides and 25.9 for grooms.

* The wedding industry is estimated to generate $35 billion in sales annually from wedding rings, gowns and tuxedos, flowers, receptions, honeymoons, gifts and related expenses.

* Men and women increasingly favor egalitarian marriages over traditional unions in which home and work duties are delegated by gender. Only 30% of women believe traditional marriage is an ideal lifestyle, while 36% of men favor a “Donna Reed” existence for their brides.

* Couples may marry upon receiving a marriage license in any state except Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, Texas and Vermont, where waiting periods of one to three days are required.

* Only 54% of males 15 and older will be married in 2010, down from 57% in 1992, according to projections based on divorce, trends to delay marriage and death of spouse. Similarly, the percentage of married women is expected to be 51% in 2010, down from 53% in 1992.

* The likelihood of marriages ending in divorce is 43%. Each year more than 1.1 million marriages end that way. The median age of remarriage after a divorce is 34.2 for women and 37.4 for men.

* Until 1967 it was a crime for blacks and whites to marry one another in some states, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bans on interracial marriages are unconstitutional in a case known as Living vs. Virginia.

* Utah’s state legislature is expected to consider a bill raising the age limit for marriage from 14 to 16 when it reconvenes in January.