After Marriage Equality, What's Next for Relationship Recognition?

Abstract

The marriage equality movement spun off several other legal statuses, including domestic partnerships, civil unions, and designated beneficiary agreements. Although these statuses were primarily created as compromise, halfway steps to full marriage equality for same-sex couples, they have utility for many other couples -- whether straight or LGBT, and whether involved in intimate relations, or not.

This brief article examines these new legal statuses, and explain which of them should be retained, and why. It argues that the law needs to flexibly adapt itself to the changing, real-life circumstances of actual couples.

Keywords: marriage equality, marriage, same sex marriage, domestic partnership, domestic relations, family law, couples. civil unions

JEL Classification: K19, J12