by Paul Olsen

      Researchers at the University of Vermont (UVM) recently released results of a study of the differences and similarities among three categories of couples: gay and lesbian couples entered into civil union, committed gay and lesbian couples not joined in civil union, and married heterosexual couples.
      UVM psychologists Dr. Esther D. Rothblum and Dr. Sondra E. Solomon compared the three types of couples on a variety of criteria including education, employment, religion, children, housework, and monogamy.
      “Professor Sondra Solomon became interested in doing this study because we were at a Vermont university and thus ideally situated to conduct research on Vermont civil unions,” Rothblum said in an interview. “No one had studied civil unions before. In fact, when we began the study, civil unions had only been legal for six months. We knew that the results would interest policy makers, lesbians and gay men, and the general public.”
      In the study, Rothblum and Solomon reviewed approximately 300 survey responses from civil union couples, 200 from married heterosexual couples, and 200 from gay/lesbian couples who have not entered into civil union. Reponses came from 44 states. Regarding race/ethnicity, 10 percent of the respondents (and in fact, all civil union couples according to the Vermont Dept of Health statistics) are people of color.
      “The married heterosexual couples always included one person who was a sibling of a civil union couple and his/her spouse,” Rothblum explained. “This makes the results more conservative (i.e., better) because we are beginning with two couples who are already quite similar (that is, they are probably of the same race and ethnicity, same social class background, same general age, etc.). Had we compared civil union couples with other ‘newlyweds’ in Vermont, for example, and found a lot of demographic differences,” she continued, “this would be interpreted as a confound. Similarly, the non-civil union couples come from the friendship circle of civil union couples.”
      Under Vermont’s two-year-old civil union law, gay and lesbian couples are entitled to more than 300 state-provided benefits including inheritance rights, family leave, adoption, public assistance, state tax benefits, and marital communication privileges in Vermont. For most out-of-state couples, entering into civil union is symbolic because, so far, no other state recognizes them.
      According to Rothblum, the study is significant because it is one of the first to look at gay and lesbian couples in legal relationships. “Because civil union certificates are public information, we were able to contact all couples,” she said. “This means we can compare couples who responded to those who did not, and this means we can see how representative our study was. In the past, researchers have handed out questionnaires via friendship networks or through gay events and ads in gay papers, so they were never able to know how representative their results were.”
      The study found that over 90 percent of couples stated they entered into civil union for love, commitment and legal reasons. More than 50 percent joined in civil union to make a political statement, saying they wanted society to know about lesbian and gay relationships.
      Study results comparing lesbians in civil unions, lesbians not in civil unions, and married heterosexual women found differences among the groups. Lesbians had one more year of education than married heterosexual women; married heterosexual women were more likely to have children; and lesbians on average made $15,000 more than married heterosexual women in the paid workforce.
      Married heterosexual women in the study attended religious services more frequently than lesbians; spent more time on housework; and their husbands earned significantly more than lesbian partners. In contrast, lesbians in relationships that were not legally recognized in civil union were more likely to work full time compared to lesbians in civil unions or married heterosexual women, while married heterosexual women were more likely to be employed part time or work as unpaid homemakers.
      Differences were also found in comparisons of gay men in civil unions, gay men not in civil unions, and married heterosexual men.
      Gay men in the study were less likely to have children than married heterosexual men, while gay men in civil unions were more likely to have children than gay men not in civil unions. Regardless of sexual orientation or partnership situation, the men in the study did not differ in income.
      Gay men in both types of couples were more likely to identify with no religion compared to married heterosexual men, and the men in all three types of couples spent 6 to 8 hours per week on housework.
      Seventy-nine percent of married heterosexual men felt non-monogamy was not okay, compared with only 34 percent of gay men not in civil unions and 50 percent of gay men in civil unions. Over 82 percent of the women in the study, regardless of sexual orientation, said monogamy was important.
      Dr. Rothblum declared that the results of the study did not surprise her. “We guessed that civil union couples would be like gay and lesbian couples in many regards, and we also speculated that civil union couples would be like heterosexual married couples in terms of legal issues like owning a house together,” she said.
      Rothblum hopes the project’s results will be useful. “We have heard from policy makers and individuals who are working for civil union benefits in other states,” she said. “Our results will allow them to have some data to convince lawmakers and the general public.”
      The Gill Foundation funded the study for 400 civil union couples, 400 non-civil union couples and 400 married heterosexual couples. “All couples we could not include in this study will be included in the dissertation of graduate student Jelica Todosijevic, and she will be focusing on how couples cope with stress,” said Rothblum.

Paul Olsen also writes for In Newsweekly.