25 Years of Same-Sex Unions in Sweden: Success Story or Stalled Progress?

Stefanie Mollborn , Stockholm University
Martin Kolk, Stockholm University

Given the historical and continuing prevalence of structural obstacles, interpersonal discrimination, and social norms opposing family formation among LGBTQ populations, it is important for researchers to understand the size and sociodemographic composition of individuals in same-sex unions. Using administrative data from Swedish population registers that now cover 25 years since same-sex registered partnerships were legalized, we assessed hypothesis about and document historical changes in the sociodemographic characteristics of Swedes aged 20-60 in same-sex unions, including a portrait of contemporary same-sex married Swedes in 2021. We focused on how structural, interpersonal, and normative changes over time were reflected in these changing sociodemographic characteristics. Our preliminary analyses found that some aspects were suggestive of a success story and others of stalled progress. The relatively low prevalence of and the continued linearly increasing demand for same-sex marriage over time suggest that much potential for growth in same-sex marriage remains today. The strong overrepresentation of same-sex married Swedes, especially men, in large cities implies continued subnational discriminatory contexts. Other findings suggest that gender inequalities in the availability of parenthood in same-sex couples is increasingly stratifying same-sex marriage by gender and parental status, and by socioeconomic status among male same-sex unions. For some, perhaps especially women in same-sex marriages living with children, the results point toward a partial success story emerging over time. For many others, the results are mixed and suggestive of persistent normative and discriminatory contexts that may continue to disadvantage same-sex couples.

See paper

 Presented in Session 31. Time Trends in Family and Household Types