Marriage Between Homosexual and Heterosexual Partners
A study on 26 gay men (which also included research on bisexual men) found that internalized homophobia is a factor that leads such men into mixed-orientation marriages. Marriages between a homosexual man and a heterosexual woman have a high probability of failure.
Joe Kort, a counselor specializing in mixed-orientation marriages, said "These men genuinely love their wives. They fall in love with their wives, they have children, they're on a chemical, romantic high, and then after about seven years, the high falls away and their gay identity starts emerging. They don't mean any harm." While many hide their orientation from their spouse, others tell their spouse before marriage. Research indicates that some people identify as exclusively heterosexual in behavior and fantasies before marriage, but grow toward a more homosexual orientation during marriage.
One study states that heterosexual women in mixed-orientation marriages may be attracted to homosexual men and proceed to marry them. Kort said that "straight individuals rarely marry gay people accidentally." He theorized that some heterosexual women find homosexual men less judgmental and more flexible, while others unconsciously seek partnerships that are not sexually passionate.
Read more about this topic: Mixed-orientation Marriage
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and/or partners:
“Marriage is the clue to human life, but there is no marriage apart from the wheeling sun and the nodding earth, from the straying of the planets and the magnificence of the fixed stars.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Let’s face it. With the singular exception of breast-feeding, there is nothing about infant care that a mother is innately better qualified to do than a father. Yet we continue to unconsciously perpetuate the myth that men just don’t have what it takes to be true partners in the process.”
—Michael K. Meyerhoff (20th century)