The Maxim Institute has a rather sparse "resource" page on civil unions on its website. Most of the articles contained therein are pdfs of items from their Evidence magazine, as well as the work of one Maggie Gallagher. Predictably, Maggie Gallagher is a US Christian Right "marriage movement" activist. Moreover, though, she's not a social scientist- which has been pointed out by Judith Stacey, a prominent New York University feminist family sociologist and author of the benchmark article, "How Does Sexual Orientation Affect Parenting?" (American Sociological Review, April 2001). So, why has the Maxim Institute published the work of this uncredentialed activist on its website? It really should stop doing that sort of thing, too - it came a cropper when it publicised the work of Stanley Kurtz of the Weekly Standard, a conservative tabloid journalist who didn't bother to read actual Scandinavian marital statistics when he argued that "marriage was dying" there, without benefit of evidence. Still, at least Kurtz tried to argue from the stats. Gallagher just makes assertions. One wonders why the Institute bothered to publish her work on its website in the first place- is it that desperate it doesn't think we're quite familiar with their publications and arguments, imported as they are from overseas? Gallagher's articles don't even have footnotes to substantiate their claims. Craig Young - 2nd August 2004