Maddow: Gay Marriage Equals DOMA

Rachel Maddow reported new government data on Thursday that suggests the legalization of same-sex marriage may lessen divorce rates. The provisional statistics indicate that divorce rates have fallen in Massachusetts since marriage equality became law in 2004, giving the state the lowest divorce rate in the nation.

"Despite all the dire warnings, the sky did not fall down the day a man was allowed to marry a man and a woman was allowed to marry a woman in the Bay State," said Maddow, who shares a home in Massachusetts with her partner, Susan Mikula. The couple is not married.

According to the statistics Maddow cites in the segment below, the rate of divorce in Massachusetts fell from 2.2 per thousand to 2.0 per thousand between 2004 and 2008. The remarkable pre-World War II levels of divorce were reached after same-sex marriage was legalized.

"Awkwardly, it turns out gay marriage is a defense of marriage act," said Maddow.