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Cited by 326

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 124 of the 124 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the United States: A social science perspective.

Herek, Gregory M.·2006·American Psychologist

Abstract

Whether and how civil society should recognize committed relationships between same-sex partners has become a prominent, often divisive, policy issue. The present article reviews relevant behavioral and social science research to assess the validity of key factual claims in this debate. The data indicate that same-sex and heterosexual relationships do not differ in their essential psychosocial dimensions; that a parent's sexual orientation is unrelated to her or his ability to provide a healthy and nurturing family environment; and that marriage bestows substantial psychological, social, and health benefits. It is concluded that same-sex couples and their children are likely to benefit in numerous ways from legal recognition of their families, and providing such recognition through marriage will bestow greater benefit than civil unions or domestic partnerships. Trends in public opinion toward greater support for legal recognition of same-sex couples are discussed.

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Crossref · 10.1037/0003-066x.61.6.607

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Metadata

Authors
Herek, G. M.
Venue
American Psychologist
Published
2006-09
Volume
61
Issue
6
Pages
607-621
ISSN
  • 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-990X
OpenAlex
W2050636004
Cited by
326
References
124
FWCI
21.92
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the United States: A social science perspective. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037/0003-066x.61.6.607
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Herek, G. M. (2006). Legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the United States: A social science perspective. American Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.61.6.607

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.