Cohabitation Increasing

Legal Changes

• The Civil Partnership Act 2004. This came into force in the UK on 5 December 2005, giving homosexual couples the same rights as married couples to formally enter a legal relationship known as a ‘civil partnership’.

• Same Sex Marriage 2014. Legislation to allow same-sex marriage in England and Wales came into force in March 2014.

Change to social policy

in 2002 cohabiting couples were given the same rights to adopt as married couples. As at this time same-sex couples were unable to get married it meant they were still able to adopt and form a family.

Increased Social Acceptance

Postmodernists argue there is growing acceptance of family diversity and this includes sexual diversity. 

Jeffery Weeks(1999) argues that increased social acceptance may explain the trend towards same-sex cohabitation and stable relationships that resemble those found among heterosexuals.

Chamie and Mirkin Name of Study: Same sex marrigae: a new social phenomenon 

looks at the rapid change in attitudes towards same sex couples and marriage in a relatively short space of time noting that ‘these events are extraordinary given that even during most of the 20th century, homosexuals were closeted and the concept of same-sex marriage was inconceivable’. This study however does go on to discuss the difficulty of implementing such policies, especially in the USA.