Macrostructural Conditions of Early Versus Late Institutional Inclusion of Same-Sex Couples in the Family: An International Comparison

Abstract

Same-sex registered partnership, marriage, and adoption open up the family as an institution to same-sex couples and, therefore, constitute a pathway to a broader definition of what is family. In the last 2 decades, a majority of Western countries have experienced an unprecedented institutional trend toward the provision of new rights to same-sex couples in the family. This swift process of institutional change has been, for the most part, accounted for in the literature by attitudinal changes expressing greater openness toward minorities, and a greater sensitivity to human rights (Engeli et al., 2012). By contrast, we propose an explanation featuring structural features of societies in the early 21st century. We hypothesize that a series of macrostructural conditions account for the precocity versus lateness of legislation favorable to the inclusion of same-sex couples into the family. Also, we expect that normative sex regimes opened to sexual activity between same-sex persons to have been favorable to such inclusion.

Gender Roles: Family Structures

“…Since the 1960s, societal and economic changes including birth control, the emancipation of women, increased wealth and educational attainments have led to changes in the understanding of the nature of family and fertility in European countries (Fine-Davis, 2017). Important events were registered partnerships for same-sex couples starting in Scandinavian countries in the 1990s legalization of same-sex marriages in several countries in the 2000s (Ganjour & Widmer, 2019), and in all US states in 2015. Although the absolute number of marriages in same-sex couples increased over time, getting married, or having children, is lower for same-sex couples compared to different-sex couples.…”

“…However, since the 1990s this drop in birthrates has slowed down because first-child bearing occurs at later points in life (Beaujouan, 7 2020). Concurrently, the higher acceptance of same-sex relationships and the institutionalizing of same-sex marriage in some countries changed definitions of family thus contributing to more diverse family structures (Ganjour & Widmer, 2019). Conversely, changes in structure such as the legalizing of same-sex marriage in the US led to a doubled decrease of antigay attitudes (Ofosu et al, 2019).…”