  If everyone remembers our debate a few weeks ago on the matters of same- sex marriage,  you might recall the experiment practiced in the Netherlands touted by Mr.
 Rauch. nbsp;  The Netherlands is the first country to legalize same-
sex marriage,
 having done so in 2002. nbsp;  Though the mere two years that have passed since the practiced has been permitted,  the country is already gathering data as to the effects of this& nbsp;
campaign.
nbsp;
 A letter from Dutch scholars to other nations' parliaments notes a drastic decline in Dutch marriages,  which they attribute to " the ( legal and social)  separation of marriage from parenting.  In parliament,  advocates and opponents alike agreed that same- sex marriage would pave the way to greater acceptance of alternative forms of cohabitation.  This evidence flies in the face of Mr.  Rauch's postulation that allowing same- sex marriage will halt the trend to alternates to marriage.
nbsp; nbsp;
 While the scholars note that it may be too early to trace causation in these matters,
 they advise " that enough evidence of marital decline already exists to raise serious concerns about the wisdom of the efforts to deconstruct marriage in its traditional form.  However,  to support these claims,  researches can point to the correlations in Denmark,  Norway,  and Scandinavia between cohabitation with children and the drastic delines in marriage rates.
nbsp;
 Hat Tip:  urlLink National Review and Eve Tushnet at urlLink Marriagedebate. com 
