What Straights Can Learn From Gays about Relationships and Parenting

The author reviews the findings of current research on lesbian and gay couples. The author feels that lesbian and gay couples could be used as a model to which all couples aspire based on the flexibility of gender roles and the equal division of parenting and household tasks, whereas in heterosexual dual-career families, mothers did the majority of the child care and housework when compared with fathers. This imbalance bred resentment over time. Other studies have shown that lesbian and gay couples are emotionally closer when compared to heterosexual married couples. Moreover, other research has illustrated that same-sex couples were better at resolving disagreements because they approached problems from a position of peer equality whereas heterosexual couples tended to struggle for power leaving one partner feeling invalidated.