Daily Archives: October 1, 2014



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The Decline Of U.S. Marriage Rates Explained In One Incredible Gif

The Decline Of U.S. Marriage Rates Explained In One Incredible Gif
It’s no secret that marriage rates in the U.S. are declining, but sometimes you have to see things to believe them.

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. census, researchers at Movoto — a real-estate blog dedicated to data crunching — created this gif that demonstrates the fall in marriage rates by state from 1970 to 2011. (You’ll notice that Nevada is singled out, as its marriage rates are drastically higher than the rest of the country).

US Marriage Rates Over 41 Years
Source: Movoto.com

While researching marriage rates, Movoto went one step further and split the data into two time periods: 1970-2003 and 2004-2011. “We selected 2004 as a boundary because it was the first year that gay marriage took effect in a U.S. state (Massachusetts),” Movoto explained in their report.

Their goal in doing so was to determine whether or not same-sex marriage is to blame for falling marriage rates, as some religious conservatives may postulate.

According to the numbers, same-sex marriage had no effect on declining marriage rates whatsoever. Twenty-four states saw faster declining marriage rates after 2004, but 25 states plus Washington DC saw the decline in marriage rates slow down after 2004.

So what’s really happening?

Some theories point to the economy, some argue Millennials don’t feel the same societal pressure to marry as generations before them and others suggest that the younger generations simply don’t need marriage anymore, instead choosing to cohabitate and raise children outside the institution of marriage.

What do you think is causing the decline in marriage rates? Tell us in the comments section below!

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www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/marriage-rates_n_5915648.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

MISC

WWF Says Earth Has Lost 50% Of Its Wildlife In The Past 40 Years

WWF Says Earth Has Lost 50% Of Its Wildlife In The Past 40 Years

WildA new report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London has found the number of wild animals on Earth has reduced by half over the last 40 years, according to The Guardian. The decrease comes as a result of the negative impact humans have had on ecosystems across the globe. Wildlife have been hunted and killed for food by humans at an unsustainable rate and have also had their habitats destroyed or polluted:

The steep decline of animal, fish and bird numbers was calculated by analysing 10,000 different populations, covering 3,000 species in total. This data was then, for the first time, used to create a representative “Living Planet Index” (LPI), reflecting the state of all 45,000 known vertebrates. […] 

The report concludes that today’s average global rate of consumption would need 1.5 planet Earths to sustain it. But four planets would be required to sustain US levels of consumption, or 2.5 Earths to match UK consumption levels.

The fastest decline among the animal populations were found in freshwater ecosystems, where numbers have plummeted by 75% since 1970. “Rivers are the bottom of the system,” said Dave Tickner, WWF’s chief freshwater adviser. “Whatever happens on the land, it all ends up in the rivers.” For example, he said, tens of billions of tonnes of effluent are dumped in the Ganges in India every year.


Sean Mandell

www.towleroad.com/2014/10/wwf-says-earth-has-lost-50-of-its-wildlife-in-the-past-40-years.html

MISC

Facebook Apologizes To LGBT Community For Controversial Name Change Policy

Facebook Apologizes To LGBT Community For Controversial Name Change Policy
Facebook is apologizing to members of the LGBT community, specifically drag queens and transgender individuals, over the way their name change policy has disproportionately targeted and affected their identities.

Facebook came under fire several weeks ago after forcing a large percentage of individuals operating personal profiles on Facebook under pseudonyms, stage names, or any name not matching their legal name to change their name on Facebook or risk having their profiles deactivated. A number of individuals spoke out on the issue, including RuPaul and Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence member Sister Roma, who orchestrated a face-to-face meeting with Facebook to discuss the implications of this policy.

Today, the company’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, apologized to “the affected community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community” through a post on his personal profile.

Cox notes in his apology, “Our policy has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name. The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life. For Sister Roma, that’s Sister Roma. For Lil Miss Hot Mess, that’s Lil Miss Hot Mess. Part of what’s been so difficult about this conversation is that we support both of these individuals, and so many others affected by this, completely and utterly in how they use Facebook.”

This is a victory not only for drag queens and transgender individuals, but every person who chooses to self-identify for whatever reasons while navigating the Internet.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/facebook-name-change_n_5916336.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

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