Do you think of your same-sex significant other as your "partner" or your "husband/wife" or as something else? When talking about my future, I refer to the person I'm with as "my future wife." I've noticed that some LGBs refer to them as "partners" as do straight people. I guess when I think about the future, I think about same-sex marriage being legal everywhere. In that case I would be able to get married to a woman. I guess I'm just curious as to why some people call them partners. Not in a rude way, just curious to see what the reasons are. Don't want to get married? Don't see legalization in the future? Other reasons? :rolle:
You know I was thinking the exact same thing earlier today. IMO More open minded liberal-esque people and LGBT people say "partner" where as more traditional people say husband/wife
I call them "companion", mostly. Feel that is quite the accurate term. I'm not interested in the concept of marriage.
Umm, I don't feel required to get married or fall in love, but eventually I want to settle down. I see myself as maybe getting a sex change in the future, but who knows what'll happen? I wanted to be a spiritual leader actaully as a little kid, but now I see it wouldn't work out for me, so I think I'll get into book publishing, since I'd love to help with the process of making awesome books! Also, I don't have a significant other to call them anything... but I imagine I'd call them my "lover."
I guess I generally think of him as my partner although husband comes up from time to time. I'm not a huge fan of marriage as a legal institution--I think it's strange for the government to sanction some relationships over others. But the banker in me would like him to be able to inherit my 401k without it going into RMD--romantic right?
I think for me partner until we got engaged and then obviously fiancé and then once we are married, it would be husband or wife.
The short answer: I like everybody, but I'm not with anybody. It's just easier, in my case, to use 'partner' or 'companion', when referring to a potential special individual, due to that.
In a hypothetical future scenario, I use "husband." If I am among people that I'm not comfortable saying that, I use "spouse." "Partner" reminds me too much of an LLC, PC, or LLP :lol:. However, I first need a "boyfriend." Oddly enough, "boyfriend" to me sounds weirder than "husband."
I rarely use either. On the occasions that I do talk about the possibility of marriage, it usually begins with "were I to marry..." and I refer to them without a gender-specific pronoun or familial position. Saying "husband" and using masculine pronouns feels too specific, as if I've already got a particular person in mind. When I use "husband" and "he," I feel like I'm making early assumptions. I like to keep to more vague language.
I don't have a gender in mind personally, so I think of them more as a partner. And plus, I'm not the marrying type.
I tend to say partner now as we're a little past boyfriends in terms of age and time together. When we are married I expect I will say husband, but I can't be sure. I will have to see what feels right when it happens. I'll let you all know.
I think about my girlfriend as my future wife. Nothing against people who prefer "partner" but I personally don't like the way it sounds. Makes me think of a business arrangement.
We've used boyfriend, partner and future husband depending on the audience. But we're both looking forward to having it be totally legal one day and absolutely plan on using "husband". To each their own. "Boyfriend" sounds a little awkward for someone in his 50's, and "partner" sounds a lot like we should have "LLC" or "LTD" after our names. And "husband" carries its own bit of baggage ("So which of you is the 'wife' in the relationship?"). It's a new world out there. Perhaps it's the subject of a different thread, but I'm also curious about what people are considering for last name options once married. I'm on a group for gay dads on Facebook, and it's interesting to see how some legally married couples keep their own names, or take one spouse's name, or hyphenate them. I think one or two couples even picked a new name or did some mishmash of the two. For us, we have one basic WASP-y name and one short Slavic name and plan on hyphenating them, but obviously that might not be so convenient if our names were McGillicuddy and Dostoyevsky. Even more amusing is that my two sisters both kept their birth names, so I'd be the only one of my siblings who actually changed mine. Seems like it's all personal preference--which I think is how it should be anyhow, even among straight couples.
I'm weird in the way that I like to refer to my partner as my 'mate'. I'm a very simple minded individual, so I think very one dimensionally when it comes to a relationship.
