Separate and Not Equal: Bi-National Same–Sex Couples
In an article published recently in Signs, Williams Institute Research Director Lee Badgett discusses her research on bi-national same-sex couples living in the Netherlands. She finds that many of these couples face difficult limitations in choosing where to live. Instead of living where they would prefer, or following the best job opportunities, they often have no choice about where to reside in order to avoid separation. As a result, the non-citizen members of these Dutch couples sometimes had to take lower paying jobs and bear the emotional costs of living far from their birth families. Couples also shared the symbolic harm they experienced in visiting the United States. The fact that their marriages are not recognized is driven home as they are required to fill out different forms, wait in different lines, and answer different questions to enter the U.S. separately instead of together.