donate WELCOME to the Alternatives to Marriage Project (AtMP)! If you are unmarried you have come to the right place. There are nearly 100 million of us in the U.S. who are single, choose not to marry, cannot marry, or live together before marriage. While AtMP does not oppose marriage, our national, nonprofit organization fights for fairness and equality for all unmarried people, their families, and their supporters. Explore this website to find empowering information, connect with others with shared concerns, get active on issues of inequality and unfairness, and become involved in this swelling grassroots movement. How can AtMP support YOU? Sign up and let us know!
Member Stories
What Unemployment Looks Like for Singles

Christina is a 56-year-old single woman who lives in Bellevue, Washington.  She has had a long and successful property management career, but was laid off in late 2008 when her company cut back on expenses. (She was replaced by a 29-year-old employee.)  For the first few months of unemployment, Christina relaxed and took some time to think about what she wanted to do next.  Unemployment checks were just barely enough to cover her monthly living expenses, but she wasn't too concerned.

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Meet Our Chosen Family. M, 63, and K, 64, have a long history together that has resulted in a wonderful Family of Choice that intends to be together until death does them part.

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My Best Friend Is My Significant Person.  Beatrice, an AtMP member from Washington, DC, wrote to tell us her story. Beatrice is a young 68 year old single woman. She does not have a life partner, and her significant other is not a romantic partner.
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September 15, 2010
Welcome to readers in Kansas City and many other places carrying the AP wire story about Americans' changing definition of family.  It quotes AtMP executive director Nicky Grist's reminder that political rhetoric about families can seem to leave out singles.
 

AtMP in the media

AtMP speaks out in a New York Times opinion piece by Cindy, "Unmarried and Ignored by the GOP."  You can read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/04/24/are-family-values-outdated/unmarried-and-ignored-by-the-gop

Cindy Butler talks about the implications of the rising rate of singlehood and the declining rate of marriage on "Single- the New Married" on Relationships360 BlogTalkRadio on March 15, 2012. 

"More couples stay happily unmarried" Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 11, 2012. AtMP Executive Director Cindy Butler addresses the unfair difficulties cohabiting partners face in an effort to care for one another.