Monogamy on the Rise

I have long believed that if gay people were not discriminated against, particularly for what is commonly called living the gay lifestyle (that is, indulging in promiscuous sex), monogamy would characterize the majority of gay relationships, as it does the majority of straight relationships.  The findings of a recent study bears this out.

According to an article that appeared in The Vancouver Sun on Thursday, September 8, 2011, monogamy is on the rise, in straight as well as gay relationships.  Below are several pertinent quotes from the article titled "Couples have become more monogamous over past 3 decades, data show."

Among gay men, the percentage who cheated on a partner they lived with dropped to 59 per cent from 83 per cent; for lesbians it declined to eight per cent from 28 per cent.

The authors [of the study that appeared in the September issue of the journal Family Process] "speculate that awareness of HIV/AIDS and other STDs has led couples to be more cautious and more conservative about sex outside their relationships over the last 25 years."
But [Robert-Jay] Green [a psychology professor at Alliant International University in San Francisco] says it's also a result of greater acceptance of same-sex relationships.

Emily Hecht-McGowan of the non-profit Family Equality Council, which works toward equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families, agrees.  "I think same-sex couples are more comfortable living openly in their communities and building families," she said.

(All quotes are from page B4 of the above-mentioned article in The Vancouver Sun.)

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For the record, as a gay man, I'm ashamed of the statistic that as many as 59 percent of gay men as of the year 2000 were not monogamous in their same-sex relationships.  This figure does not include Chris and me, who are one hundred percent faithful to each other, or some of the other long-term gay and lesbian couples we know.

The figure also tells me there's still work to be done, on the part of society, to continue supporting same-sex relationships, and on the part of gay men, to eschew promiscuity in favor of monogamy.  Still, the drop from 83 to 59 percent is a 24 percent improvement, and the trend is definitely going in the right direction.