Will Same-Sex Marriage Undermine One of the Best Things the LGBT Community...
When Americans think about the people who mean the most to them, the people they can really count on when they need someone, they don’t come up with the same list of names that they once did. For a...
View ArticleA Victory for Unmarried Cohabiting Couples in a Time of Horrifyingly...
These are frightening times for people who are not married and their children, and even for people who are married but no longer want to be. Lawmakers and political leaders in the US and elsewhere are...
View ArticleComprehensive Unmarried Equality Must Include Parental Rights for Friends
Unmarried cohabiting couples have often been at the center of the quest for unmarried equality. Legal rights and protections were especially significant before same-sex marriage was legalized...
View ArticleTaxing Singles More Than Couples: It Is Hard to Find a Country with a Bigger...
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently released the 2016 income-tax rates for all 35 member countries. Rates were reported separately for two different categories:...
View ArticleThe Myth that Married People Are Superior: Challenge It at Your Peril
The belief that marriage makes people happier and healthier and better off in all sorts of other ways, too, is entrenched in our thinking. It is not just any old belief, it is an ideology in which...
View ArticleSocial Security Massively Favors Married and Previously Married People
Unmarried Equality members are painfully aware that there are more than 1,000 federal laws that benefit and protect only people who are legally married. The massive favoritism toward married people is...
View ArticleWhy Unmarried Women, More Often Than Married Women, Vote for Democrats: New...
Here at Unmarried Equality, we would like all major political parties to take seriously our mission of “fairness and equal treatment of all people regardless of marital status.” If voting patterns are...
View ArticleNew Survey Shows Openness Toward Diverse Family Forms. Will Nondiscriminatory...
One of the joys of 21st century American life is that it is more possible than ever before to follow the life path that suits you best. Nuclear family living is still celebrated, sentimentalized, and...
View ArticleThe “Premier Family Form”: Ideology, Shaming, and the Misleading Use of Science
At my “Living Single” blog, I shared the results of the Family Story survey that showed that more than 70 percent of American women believe that a single parent can do just as good a job as two...
View ArticleThe Injustices of Unmarried Life Have Been Named, and the Terms Are Sticking
When I first started studying single life two decades ago, there were no terms for the injustices faced by people who are not married. In fact, one of the most daunting challenges was trying to...
View ArticleHow Kindness and Customs Contribute to the Wealth Advantage of People Who...
Over the course of a lifetime, single people spend tens of thousands of dollars on the weddings of other people. Their married siblings receive about $20,000 toward their wedding expenses from their...
View ArticleIsraeli Scholar Calls for the Politicization of Singlehood
To say that someone is politicizing something is typically a rebuke. The person who is accused is supposed to deny any political intent, or retreat in shame. Not Israeli scholar Kinneret Lahad. Her new...
View Article6 Married Therapists Spent 18 Months Confronting Their Own Biases Against...
Recently, a mental health professional sent me an email full of degrading and disproved claims about single people. When I objected, he insisted that there was nothing wrong with any of his statements....
View ArticleGreat Labor Market? Not for Single People
“A modern economy should work for all people, including those who want to live independently of spouses and partners.” –Center for American Progress Single and cohabiting people, the Center for...
View ArticleLess Marriage, More Equality?
“The decline in marriage – people spending a smaller portion of their lives married, on average – is part of a larger global transition toward gender equality.” –Philip N. Cohen, Enduring Bonds...
View ArticleFairness for Single People: New Initiative for Calling Out Unfair and Fair...
Unmarried Equality members have probably noticed lots of ways in which single people are not treated fairly by businesses and other groups and organizations. Let’s do more than just rolling our eyes or...
View ArticlePlease Don’t Make Us Marry to Get Legal Protections, Say Different-Sex...
Before same-sex marriage was legalized in the UK, same-sex couples gained legal recognition for their relationships under the Civil Partnership Act. Now that these couples can be legally married, they...
View ArticleHow Unmarried People Are Ignored Even by Those Who Should Be Paying Attention
The night before the California primaries earlier this month, I received a robocall urging me to support one of the candidates because she is a “fighter for children and families.” I emailed the...
View ArticleUnmarried Americans, Is It Wrong to Complain about the Small Stuff?
In matters of fairness for people who are not married, there are big things and small things and everything in between. If you care about social justice, the big stuff will be high on your list. But...
View ArticleWhen You Hear “Success Sequence,” Think “Marriage Propaganda”
Want a formula for staying out of poverty? Conservatives such as Brad Wilcox and George Will have a favorite, with a catchy title and simple, 3-step process. It is their “success sequence.” Young...
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