If you are an adult and you don’t have a kid with you, a Los Angeles city councilman wants to ban you from entering playgrounds. Los Angeles is not the sole offender; in some other major cities, including New York, the ban is already in effect, with the result that people have been ticketed “for […]
Archives for 2016
Banning Adults without Children from Playgrounds: Disturbing Implications about the Place of Single People in America
December 29, 2016 by
How to Make Things Better for Unmarried Americans – with No Help Forthcoming from the Federal Government
November 19, 2016 by
In my last column, “What unmarried Americans want,” I shared people’s answers to the question, “If you could change just one law or policy to make things better for unmarried/single Americans, what would it be?” What a difference a month makes. Changes in laws in policies at the federal level – at least the sorts […]
What Unmarried Americans Want
October 25, 2016 by
Recently, I posted this question at the Facebook pages for Unmarried Equality and the Community of Single People: “If you could change just one law or policy to make things better for unmarried/single Americans, what would it be?” I would like to say that the question is particularly important because of election season, but unfortunately, […]
How Unmarried Americans Fare as Home Buyers: Single Women, Single Men, and Unmarried Couples
September 12, 2016 by
To many Americans, home ownership is an essential component of the American dream. But how often do unmarried Americans get to (or choose to) share in that dream? What do they want when they look for a home, and what do they actually get? Thanks to 35 years of survey data collected by the National […]
How the Important People in the Lives of Unmarried Americans Are Shortchanged
August 15, 2016 by
The stereotyping, stigmatizing, and marginalizing of unmarried Americans is not just about us. It also extends to all of the important people in our lives, especially if they are not romantic partners. The people we care about the most have unequal rights in laws and policies, and they are often devalued or ignored in everyday […]
We the Unmarried: Universities Just Aren’t into Us, and That Needs to Change
July 13, 2016 by
Colleges and universities are powerhouses of critical thinking. They set agendas. They influence generations of students. And they are not just ivory towers. What happens in universities does not stay in universities. It slips out into the ether, seeping into the minds of political leaders, business leaders, religious leaders, social justice advocates, and decision-makers in […]
The Subversive Implication of Same-Sex Marriage that No One Predicted
June 10, 2016 by
Marrying a platonic friend for financial and practical benefits can be a deliciously subversive individual act, but for social justice writ large, we need more.
Journalists and Social Scientists Glorify Married People. Will We All Look Back in Shame?
May 23, 2016 by
It is open season on people who are not married. It always has been. Our lives are inferior, we are told, over and over again. What’s more, the reporters and moralizers and others telling us our lives are second rate claim to have the backing of science. Get married, they tell us, and we will […]
Why Is Marriage Still So Glorified When So Many People Are Not Married?
April 21, 2016 by
It is a paradox of contemporary life in the U.S. and in other nations around the world: More people than ever before are not married, and yet, in so many ways, marriage still rules. Marriage retains a special place in the cultural and legal landscape, and married couples are glorified and celebrated and rewarded simply […]
Here’s How to Write in Support of an Expanded Definition of Family
March 25, 2016 by
Do you want the people you care about to count, even if they are not related to you by marriage or blood? You can ask the Department of Labor to expand the definition of family as it applies to paid sick leave. Activists from “A Better Balance” and “Family Values @ Work” have prepared a […]
