After decades of unwavering advocacy to codify same-sex marriages, the United States Supreme Court finally legalized the unions in 2015. Fast forward to today, same-sex married couples enjoy the same legal right to divorce as straight-married couples.
Looking at the divorce rate in the United States, marriages between men and women are at 40 percent, a decrease from the traditional 50 percent. Currently, same-sex marriages make up a larger number of divorces, reaching their own halfway point. Those dissolutions often lead to particular challenges, such as parental and property rights.
Unique challenges
Speculation surrounds the reasons for the significant number of those marriages ending. Simply put, couples face unique issues that are highly personal. Family and friends may express disapproval, while others may overtly act in a discriminatory way, revealing their prejudice against the union. The ongoing conflicts often lead to the marriage ending.
Data reveals that lesbian married couples are more likely to end their marriages, a confusing statistic considering that women are more likely to dissolve their heterosexual unions. From 2005 and 2015, thirty percent of these unions failed, doubling the divorce rate of all gay marriages. Infidelity is a common reason as females’ tolerance for affairs is significantly lower than men’s.
Young couples lead divorce stats
The demographic at most risk of divorce, regardless of sexual orientation, are adults who are 25 to 39, a rate of 24 per 1,000 people. Those aged 40 to 49 represent 21 per 1,000, while couples 50 and older are least likely to end their marriages. Divorce is least like for couples who tie the knot in their twenties and thirties.
Approximately 50% of married couples in the United States file for divorce or separation. According to the researchers, the divorce rate in a first marriage is estimated to be 41 percent.
While stats tell a story, the tale is incomplete, with dynamics continually changing. Same-sex unions are flourishing, with couples overcoming the obstacles and enjoying a long and loving marriage.
