Does marriage matter?

This past Saturday was a National Day of Action for same-sex marriage in Australia. Thousands of people rallied across the country in support of legislative change to allow lesbian and gay couples to be legally married.

In Melbourne, ralliers marched up Collins street to the Marriage Registry Office at Parliament House. With its grandiose architecture and numerous churches this part of town is a common hang-out for those celebrating heterosexual marriage (or those just wanting to set up some wedding snaps with a fancy background). One couple seemed a bit bemused as they exited the church to the tunes of ‘hey hey, ho ho, homophobia has to go’ … Not quite the wedding march. Still they seemed pretty happy to lend their support to the cause and the bride cheerily compared wedding-rings with a couple of gay boys.

There was a smattering of kids and prams involved. But only a smattering … Not to suggest that GLBT couples (or singles) with kids don’t support same-sex marriage. More likely, it is a reflection of the fact that marching up the street waving a banner while pushing a pram with a toddler hanging off your leg is really tiring.

We asked participants in the Work, Love, Play study a few questions about marriage and commitment ceremonies. This was of interest to us with regards to the extent to which legal recognition of relationships creates greater social and legal support for same-sex parents and their children. Also, we were interested in whether couples who have some form of legal and/or public recognition of their relationship feel more confident as parents.

As with most issues, this topic raises more questions than we have scope to answer in our study. Does legal recognition of same-sex relationships create greater stability or happiness within a relationship? Would same-sex couples be likely choose marriage (if it were legal) as a way of ensuring a legal relationship between non-biological parents and their kids? Does parental marriage really make a difference to family life?

From the few simple questions we did ask, however, we found that only a small percentage of the 445 study participants had undertaken some form of commitment ceremony (legally recognised or otherwise) or signed some documents. There were:


• 32 (7%) who had undertaken a private commitment ceremony (without friends or family present)*

• 48 (11%) who had undertaken a public commitment ceremony*

• 13 (3%) who had legally registered their relationship in an area where this was permitted*

• 16 (4%) who had undertaken a legal civil union in an area where this was permitted*

• 10 (2%) who were legally married in a country where this was permitted*


We also asked people if the current legal status (or lack of status) of homosexual relationships in the area in which they live made them feel vulnerable in their relationship. Just over one third (36%, n=161) agreed or strongly agreed that it did*.

The Work, Love, Play study will continue for the next five years. So we will have an opportunity to follow up with people living in States and Territories where lesbian and gay civil unions or marriage have become legal to see if they have taken up the marriage option and the impact this has had on their relationship or family life. So please watch this space for more discussion on this quite fascinating topic.

In the meantime, let us know what you think. What does marriage mean for same-sex couples who have kids?


*NOTE: These are preliminary findings only. Do not quote these figures without consent of the author.

On being or not being better than the rest

Stephen Scott, the research director of the UK-based National Academy for Parenting Practitioners, recently announced that lesbians make better parents than a man and a woman. Scott was speaking at the launch of a new report into factors influencing the development of character written by independent think tank Demos.

Media reports indicate that Scott’s rationale for this argument was that children with two female parents tend to be more aspirational than those with opposite-sex parents, although there are few details on what he really means by this.

Not surprisingly these comments sent the UK media and Christian Right into a spin. There was confusion around whether Scott was speaking about new research or just speaking about what he has learned from previous research or personal practice. As it turns out, the report he was actually launching has very little to do with lesbian parents. I am not sure they are mentioned at all.

Still, the whole palaver begs the question, is it ever useful for researchers to proclaim one ‘type’ of parent is better than another? Is it a good thing that a respected family researcher has publicly ‘outed’ the idea that lesbians could be seen as better parents than heterosexual couples? Or does this just turn parenting into a competition?

I don’t really have answers to these questions, but would be interested to hear what others think.

Jen

Clip-art: you've come a long way baby ... maybe?

When searching for images with which to decorate this site, I typed the word 'gay' into the Microsoft Office online clipart search engine. Twenty-eight images appeared, seven of which depicted same-sex couples with children. The researcher in me started counting:

• female couples: 4

• male couples: 3

• non-caucasians: 1

• semi-decent artwork: possibly 2 but mostly 0

It should be said that all of these images are reasonably ambiguous. To a heterosexist eye they could easily appear to be 'mother, daughter and granddaughter' or 'Male Friend One congratulating Male Friend Two on his son's soccer prowess'. But they do come up under the category of ‘gay’, so at least someone at Microsoft has decided they must be same-sex parents.

Are clip-art images a good way to measure representation? Most likely NO. But it is interesting nonetheless.

Jen

Welcome

Welcome to the Work, Love and Play Blog!

This blogsite is dedicated to discussion about the politics and culture of same-sex parented families.

The blog has been created by the research team who are running the Work, Love and Play study. Work, Love and Play is a longitudinal study looking at the experiences of families parented by same-sex attracted (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex) couples and sole-parents. The study started in 2008 and we have funding to keep it running until 2014. So far over 450 families from Australia and New Zealand have been involved in the study.

The study is being run by the Bouverie Centre at LaTrobe University, with involvement from researchers at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, the Division of Health Studies (Counselling & Psychological Health) at LaTrobe University, Relationships Australia, Melbourne University Department of General Practice and Deakin University School of Nursing.

The study is being funded by the Australian Research Council, Relationships Australia (national and Victorian branch), Vic Health (the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation) and ACON (formerly the AIDS Council of NSW) with generous in-kind support from Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria and the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities.

The aim of the study is not to try to demonstrate whether or not the children of same-sex attracted parents have equal outcomes to other children. We feel like this work has been done. Instead, the focus of our study is the way in which same-sex families operate on a day to day level. Some questions we are interested in, among many others, are:

• How do same-sex couples with children organise their work and household responsibilities?

• What childcare options have same-sex parented families chosen?

• Do same-sex attracted sole-parents find support within the GLBTI community as parents?

• Are same-sex attracted parents connected to community networks and their extended families?

• Do same-sex attracted parents feel supported by community, welfare and health services?

We feel that questions such as these will help us better understand factors that support resilience in families parented by same-sex attracted couples and individuals. We also plan to use the findings from this study to provide some education and support to health and community services in working with same-sex parented families.

If you are reading this you may have been involved in this study in some way or have an interest in the study findings. We would love for you to stay in touch with us via this blog (if you are the sort of person who likes to read blogs!).

The purpose of the blog is partly to keep readers up to date with the study and our findings. But also to be a forum for discussion about political, social and cultural issues concerning same-sex parented families. We will post information about relevant current affairs, upcoming events and conferences and general ideas and commentary about issues relevant to same-sex attracted parents.

More formal information about the study (including publications of our findings) can be found on the Bouverie Centre website.

Cheers,

Jennifer Power
Principal Researcher on the project
Email me here