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Thursday, November 6, 2003
"Civil Unions: A Study of Gay
and Lesbian Couples Choosing Legal Recognition" Click here to download "Pioneers in Partnership: Lesbian and Gay Male Couples in Civil Unions Compared With Those Not in Civil Unions, and Married Heterosexual Siblings" by Sondra E. Solomon, Esther D. Rothblum, and Kimberly F. Balsam (Microsoft Word document, 35 pgs - 286K). Forthcoming in Journal of Family Psychology (in press). Professor Rothblum's study compares lesbians and gay men who had civil unions in Vermont during the first year legislation made this available with lesbians and gay men in their friendship network who had not had civil unions, and also with heterosexual married women and men consisting of civil union couples’ siblings and their spouses. She found that married heterosexual couples had been together longer and had more traditional division of labor and childcare than did lesbians and gay men in both types of couples. Lesbians in civil unions were more open about their sexual orientation than those not in civil unions, and gay men in civil unions were closer to their family of origin than gay men not in civil unions. This is the first study on same-sex couples with civil unions, and the first to compare lesbians and gay men with their married siblings. At a time of legal changes for same-sex couples, these results indicate that legalized same-sex relationships are related to visibility of same-sex couples for their family and the general public. Esther Rothblum is Professor of Psychology at the University of Vermont and Editor of the Journal of Lesbian Studies. Her research and writing have focused on lesbian mental health, and she is former chair of the Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns of the American Psychological Association. She received the 1991 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian and Gay Issues, and also served as President of this division. Dr. Rothblum has edited over 20 books, including Lesbian Friendships (New York University Press, 1996), Preventing Heterosexism and Homophobia (Sage Publications), Lesbians in Academia (Routledge, 1997), Boston Marriages: Romantic But Asexual Relationships Among Contemporary Lesbians (University of Massachusetts Press, 1993) and Loving Boldly: Issues Facing Lesbians (Haworth Press, 1989). For more information, please contact the Williams Project at (310) 267-4382 or williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu.
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Esther Rothblum (University of
Vermont)