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Gay and Lesbian Cohabiting Couples in Stepfamilies

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Stepfamily Relationships

Abstract

Estimates of the number of gay and lesbian couples are likely to be lower than the actual number because identifying oneself publicly as part of a gay or lesbian couple may be riskier than coming out of the closet as an individual (Bryant & Demian, 1994; Kaiser Family Foundation, 2001). Based on data from the latest U.S. Census (2002), 301,026 households were headed by a male householder and a male partner and 293,365 households were headed by a female householder and a female partner. Some of these are long-term relationships—between 8% and 21% of lesbian couples and between 18% and 28% of gay couples have lived together 10 or more years (Blumstein & Schwartz, 1983; Bryant & Demian, 1994; Falkner & Garber, 2002; Kurdek, 2004; The Advocate sex poll, 2002).

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© 2004 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Ganong, L.H., Coleman, M. (2004). Gay and Lesbian Cohabiting Couples in Stepfamilies. In: Stepfamily Relationships. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9112-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9112-6_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-4797-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-9112-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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