That's where it actually came from. It wasn't solidarity with the gays, it was unmarried straight couples who wanted the recognition of their relationship without actually marrying. Gays adopted it from them, not the other way around. People forget that the LGBetc movement is the latecomer to the post-sexual revolution world. Unmarried heterosexual "partners" was a point of contention long before anyone gave a shit about what the gays thought.

It wasn't until the 90s that there was any serious consideration by the public of gay monogamy at all. That's when you really start seeing the concept of the domestic gay who "wants a relationship like yours, only gay." Prior to that, there was a common understanding that gay relationships were basically just playing at it, in reality being either sexually deviant men, or sexless dead-ends for troubled women. They didn't even have a use for the term until then, and it didn't find actual use in a gay context until the 00s with gay marriage.

That's where it actually came from. It wasn't solidarity with the gays, it was unmarried straight couples who wanted the recognition of their relationship without actually marrying. Gays adopted it from them, not the other way around. People forget that the LGBetc movement is the latecomer to the post-sexual revolution world. Unmarried heterosexual "partners" was a point of contention long before anyone gave a shit about what the gays thought.

It wasn't until the 90s that there was any serious consideration by the public of gay monogamy at all. That's when you really start seeing the concept of the domestic gay who "wants a relationship like yours, only gay." Prior to that, there was a common understanding that gay relationships were basically just playing at it, in reality being either sexually deviant men, or sexless dead-ends for troubled women.

Gay people didn't even have need for a term like "partner" until the mid-00s, when gay marriage became the cultural wedge, and it was certainly in use by straight couples long before that.

That's where it actually came from. It wasn't solidarity with the gays, it was unmarried straight couples who wanted the recognition of their relationship without actually marrying. Gays adopted it from them, not the other way around. People forget that the LGBetc movement is the latecomer to the post-sexual revolution world. Unmarried heterosexual "partners" was a point of contention long before anyone gave a shit about what the gays thought.

It wasn't until the 90s that there was any serious consideration by the public of gay monogamy at all. That's when you really start seeing the concept of the domestic gay who "wants a relationship like yours, only gay." Prior to that, there was a common understanding that gay relationships were basically just playing at it, in reality being either sexually deviant men, or sexless dead-ends for troubled women.

Gay people didn't even have need for a term like "partner" until the mid-00s, when gay marriage became the cultural wedge, and it was certainly in use long before that.

That's where it actually came from. It wasn't solidarity with the gays, it was unmarried straight couples who wanted the recognition of their relationship without actually marrying. Gays adopted it from them, not the other way around. People forget that the LGBetc movement is the latecomer to the post-sexual revolution world. Unmarried heterosexual "partners" was a point of contention long before anyone gave a shit about what the gays thought.

It wasn't until the 90s that there was any serious consideration by the public of gay monogamy at all. That's when you really start seeing the concept of the domestic gay who "wants a relationship like yours, only gay." Prior to that, there was a common understanding that gay relationships were basically just playing at it, in reality being either sexually deviant men, or sexless dead-ends for troubled women.

Gay people didn't even have a use for a term like "partner" until the mid-00s, when gay marriage became the cultural wedge. There wasn't any point, because gay marriage was unthinkable until then, so there was no need to distinguish between married and unmarried couples.