The data sets are in, and marriage equality isn't the harbinger of death for "traditional" marriage between men and women, according to a study from the School of Community Health at Portland State University published recently in PLOS ONE.

The study took the number of opposite-sex marriages from all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1989 to 2009, as a percentage of the adult population in each state (somewhat poetically referred to as "those 'at risk' of marriage"), and compared it to opposite-sex marriage rates from the 13 states (and D.C.) where either same-sex marriage or same-sex unions became legal before 2009.

The researchers found that indeed, same-sex unions aren't bringing down the venerated institution of marriage. The rates of opposite-sex marriage did not differ in states where same-sex marriage or civil union were legalized in the time period analyzed.