Small change

Subtitled What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage, Badgett, an economics prof at the University of Massachusetts and research director for UC Los Angeles’ Williams Institute, takes a look at what marriage equality did in the Netherlands. If you expected Armageddon, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re interested in how marriage becomes one of many options for partnership and family building for gay people—which is exactly the status it has for straight people in the Netherlands—you’ll be intrigued. Since the Netherlands went all equal in 2001, nothing has changed for straight people. Well, one thing has changed: Their gay and lesbian friends, family members and neighbors can also get married. While this is an academic book and is chock-full of research, graphs and tables, it also includes many interviews and offers some insightful perspectives from the Dutch. For instance, they don’t call it “gay marriage.” It’s all just marriage to them.