M.V. Lee Badgett, UMass Amherst Economics Professor & Director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, was recently quoted in an article on same-sex marriage titled, “Marriage was the story of the year in 2009.” (DC Agenga, 1/4/2010.)
According to Badgett, the advancement of same-sex marriage is striking particularly in states that already allowed relationship recognition. “I think the main thing that we learned is that states are ready to legalize same-sex marriage and it happened in several places that have civil unions or domestic partnerships,” she said. “Legislators realized, [at] the request of their constituents, that those statuses were not the same.”