America
Why do same-sex couples want to marry
New York, June 17
Just like different sex
couples, most same sex couples believe in marriage to bring in social
legitimacy, legal benefits and financial protection, finds a survey.
The
survey that included participants from 47 states of the US, excluding
Alaska, Idaho and South Dakota, showed 90 percent of the respondents
felt that the option to marry was important to their relationship.
While
91 percent of the respondents said legal marriage was important for
legal benefits and financial protection, 36 percent said marriage was
necessary for relationship legitimacy.
"The remarks about the
legal benefits and financial protections are not surprising because we
have heard so much about that from news interviews," said researcher
Stephen Haas, associate professor of communication at University of
Cincinnati.
"But that second category of relationship legitimacy -
of having societal legitimacy - stood out to me. We received responses
such as, 'My partner does not get invited on family vacations because we
are not married. But if we were married, my partner would be invited'.
So in the view of family origin, it was very important," Haas said.
The results were published online in the Journal of Homosexuality.
The
survey also found that many same-sex couples view living together as
significant because it symbolises and solidifies their commitment to
their relationship, possibly because marriage has never been an option.
The online survey included 526 individuals who reported they were in a committed, same-sex relationship for at least six month