Survey Methodology #2012-02 - New Relationship And Marital Questions: A Reflection Of Changes To The Social And Legal Recognition Of Same-Sex Couples In The U.s. - U.s. Census Bureau Page 22

(“I read that as a homosexual relationship…I know a lot of states only will accept civil unions or domestic

partnerships. Or it could be people who just choose not to get married…they just live the same way, just

in a partnership.”)

The people who properly understood the term described it in different terms. One facet of the

description was the process of attaining the status: these respondents reported things like having a

ceremony (for civil unions); filling out forms or doing paperwork (this was denoted by the “registered”

term in the category). Another facet was the effects of having the status. Examples of this included:

whether to keep a person on life support in case of an accident, whether the person wants to be buried

or cremated; “you’re on the books, so if someone is in the hospital you have the right to see them;”

taxes and hospital care and other legal rights that couples acquire that total strangers could not. Several

respondents mentioned tax benefits as a benefit of having domestic partnership status. None

mentioned health insurance benefits at this point, although all of the opposite‐sex domestic partners

had previously mentioned this as the primary reason they applied for registered domestic partnership

status.

Several respondents reported that the availability of domestic partnership status varied across states.

Some reported that domestic partnership status applied to both same‐sex and opposite‐sex couples.

However, there was some difference of opinion on this topic, with a few respondents stating that

domestic partnership was available for same‐sex couples only. To some extent this may be a reflection

of where the interviews were conducted, although at least one straight respondent in North Carolina,

where it is not available at all, said that it was available for both same‐ and opposite‐sex couples.

Respondents were asked whether they had a preference for one version of the marital status questions

over the other, and if so, what the preference was. Only a few respondents did not express a

preference. And the version with the embedded response category was the overwhelming favorite of

0 votes

Parent category: Legal