'Marriage would solidify gay partnerships'

Most gays and lesbians want to wed,
a sociologist testifies

By Linda Hosek
Star-Bulletin

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"There would be a legitimizing effect in their participation as a couple and as a family," said Pepper Schwartz, University of Washington sociology professor.

Schwartz also is the author of seven books on heterosexual and homosexual relationships, including "American Couples," published in 1983.

She said the book, intended to look at satisfaction and durability in relationships, was the standard for trying to understand couple behavior and the most frequently cited source on the issue.

State witnesses last week criticized the study, saying Schwartz did not select the participants randomly and that the conclusions were incomplete.

Schwartz said she would like to have conducted a random study on diverse populations, but that it would have been too expensive.

She said data came from the late 1970s on about 12,000 people solicited by radio and television ads from Seattle, San Francisco and New York City, and reflected

married, cohabitating, gay and lesbian couples.

Schwartz said the results showed more similarities than dissimilarities among couples, especially in terms of what they seek.

"Their aspirations, hopes and desires were similar, especially for gays, lesbians and married couples," she said.

"Even among the cohabitators, most wanted love, loyalty, affection and trust."

Schwartz said she thought there would be more differences.

Deputy Attorney General Rich Eichor said he would cross-examine Schwartz that she failed to report significant differences between heterosexual and homosexual couples.

"She's talking about couples and we're talking about children," he said during a recess. "She doesn't have anything about children so her testimony is largely irrelevant."

Eichor has argued that the state has a compelling interest to protect the health and welfare of children and said they are best raised in biological families.

The state must prove a compelling interest for the courts to justify the sex-discrimination the state Supreme Court has said exists in the state's marriage laws.

But Evan Wolfson, co-counsel for three same-sex couples who sued the state for the right to marry, said it is important to show that marriage offers many values to couples.

"It's important not to limit the focus to children," he said.

"The striking difference is that married couples have an advantage that keeps them together longer than the other three couple (groups)," Schwartz said.

She said marriage as an institution forces couples to think about sticking together, even when they are loathing each other.