Stat of the Day

In Britain, Lesbians Separate at Half the Rate Heteros Do

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Dino Grandoni 1,173 Views Sep 23, 2011

Bad news for those looking for unequivocal proof that gays just simply aren't cut out for this whole marriage thing: According to a U.K. government analysis, lesbians couples in civil partnerships (the training wheels for real marriage) separate at a shockingly high rate of ... 2.5 percent, according to The Telegraph.

Oops, that doesn't seem that high at all. In fact, it's less than half the rate of divorce for heterosexual British couples, which is 5.5 percent. The anti-gay crowd in the U.K., still hot and bothered from the creation of civil partnerships for gay couples in 2005, should still hold out hope though: "No figures are available yet for newborn babies registered to lesbian couples in 2011 and the ONS did not collect details for homosexual men who re-register themselves as the parents of children born through surrogate mothers." So the real destruction of marriage could be hiding there!

There is, however, a pretty reasonable, not-that-sexy explanation for the exceptionally low separation rate among British lesbians. According to The Telegraph, "this picture may be 'distorted' by the fact that a high proportion of the first wave of civil partnerships were formed by couples who had already been together for a significant time" before 2005. Nevertheless, with Parliament ready to finally legalize same-sex marriage, you never know what might happen.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at dgrandoni at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

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