4 March 2020
Challenging hidden assumptions
Recent social progress in LGBT+ issues in the UK is a cause for celebration but it is not the end of the story. Heteronormative stereotypes persist and can be harmful.
On the eve of the new decade, 31 December 2019, the first mixed-sex couples officially entered into civil partnerships, granting them the same legal protections as in marriage.
When you cast your mind back to last summer, you may have hazy memories of enjoying an aperol spritz during the heat wave, listening to Lewis Capaldi on every radio station, or your attempts to desperately avoid buying plastic bottles and single use cups.
Recent social progress in LGBT+ issues in the UK is a cause for celebration but it is not the end of the story. Heteronormative stereotypes persist and can be harmful.
Legal recognition of relationships has dramatically changed in the UK and across most western countries. With an urge for equality and to recognise same-sex relationships, the government first introduced civil partnerships for same-sex couples in 2005 and subsequently same sex-couples could legally marry from 2014.
In 2011, research commissioned by the well-known charity Stonewall concluded that people over 55 who were in a same sex relationship were less likely to see biological family members on a regular basis. Over half of the people surveyed felt that their sexual orientation had, or would have, a negative effect on getting older and would make life more complicated.
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