SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Increasingly Significant Issue

[Charles Wells]

>>Oberlin, where I live, is often culturally ahead of things, so what is
>>done here might be significant.  What I hear a lot of is
>>"partner".  However, I also know gay couples who refer to each other as
>>"spouse" and make an explicit point that they are married.  I suspect
>>that is the coming thing.

I know lesbian couples, too, but I haven't heard them refer to each other
as spouse.  I don't think that is significant; I don't know enough of them.

By the way, I first heard the word "gay" here in Oberlin from a lesbian
student who described herself to me as gay, in 1961.  Over the decades,
"gay" has come more frequently to refer to men only.

>>



Charles Wells
professional website: http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/math/wells/home.html
personal website: http://www.oberlin.net/~cwells/index.html
genealogical website:
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/e/l/Charles-Wells/
NE Ohio Sacred Harp website: http://www.oberlin.net/~cwells/sh.htm