Facebook Adds 'Civil Union,' 'Domestic Partnership' To Relationship Status Options

Facebook has added two new relationship status options users can include in their online profiles: "in a civil union" and "in a domestic partnership."

The new fields are being rolled out in the U.S. and several other countries, including Canada, France, the U.K., and Australia, starting today.

"This has been a highly requested feature from users," said Facebook's Andrew Noyes, manager of public policy communications. "We want to provide options for people to genuinely and authentically reflect their relationships on Facebook."

Among other information included on their Facebook profiles, such as their alma mater and favorite books, users also have the option to characterize their relationships. Previously, the set of options included: single, in a relationship, married, engaged, it's complicated, in an open relationship, widowed, separated, and divorced.

The changes were made in consultation with Facebook's Network of Support, a group that includes LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, and the Human Rights Campaign.

"As LGBT people face a patchwork of relationship recognition laws, this gives people more tools to adequately describe their relationship," said Michael Cole-Schwartz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign. "Facebook has been a company that has tried to be inclusive of the LGBT community and this just one sign of it."

Richard Socarides, president of Equality Matters and former gay rights advisor to president Bill Clinton, echoed Cole-Schwartz's praise.

"Facebook has always been an empowering place for gay people--it's a place you can be yourself in relative safety," Socarides told the Huffington Post in an email. "This is a natural progression of that. In most places, gay Americans can't yet marry but they may be able to formalize their relationship short of marriage. This change reflects that reality. Well done."

Although Facebook's new relationship status options mark a milestone for the LGBT community, Cole-Schwartz noted that challenges remain, particularly when it comes to dealing with cyberbullying, harassment, and hate speech online.

"There are people who are vulnerable and people who are going to be bullies online and people need to have the right tools to keep up with that," Cole-Schwartz said. "That will continue to be something that all online spheres wrestle with and need to be cognizant of."

See the screenshot of the new relationship status options below.

Comments

[Chuck3Martin]

12:34 AM on 02/22/2011

Good to see Facebook is doing something. My question is how long Hoosiers are going to stay in the dark about the pending gay marriage ban. Just check out this young woman, trying to get her legislator to listen to her. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAXf7nAo2Fs She makes good points about why all this is absolutely ridiculous. Civil unions, gay marriage, who the hell cares?

[justbenice]

03:18 PM on 02/21/2011

Ok, maybe it's just me, but while can I see why some folks might be thrilled about this; I don't see why it's a huge deal. All my gay friends who are in relationships or who are married just use those descriptors. Why should they note it any differently? It's Facebook, not a legal document. I'm not sure the gay married couples I know would necessarily want to be considered as anything other than what they are, married. Same for those who are in committed relationships but not married, why the distinction? If they choose to differentiate it's nice it's an option, but I guess I just think we are all the same and it's just as easy to choose boy a is "in a relationship" with boy b as it is to choose boy a is "in a domestic partnership" with boy b. We sure do love labels in this country. Maybe I will request a new status, too. How about "divorced and apathetic?" :)

[EliSpark]

08:18 AM on 02/21/2011

Would you personally have objections to me and my partner changing our relationship status to in a domestic partnership even though we are straight? We live together and share our lives but are not religious and the tax structure of marriage would hurt us more than it would help right now.

[Margot707]

10:04 PM on 03/10/2011

Fine by me. Domestic partnerships were originally designed in the 60s for senior couples who wanted to live together but not get married for financial reasons. A Domestic Partnership agreement and civil ceremony gave them a sense of not just "living in sin" while avoiding losing social security or pension benefits.

[Etropalld]

12:10 PM on 02/20/2011

Am I missing something here or is/was there some restriction on same-sex couples selecting "married" as their status? I mean, it's freaking text on a web page and it has absolutely no meaning to begin with. Isn't anyone free to select any option?

I'm sorry I just don't get it.

[PeruvianFlakley]

04:59 PM on 02/20/2011

Gay people cannot be married in many places.

[Etropalld]

11:56 PM on 02/20/2011

I understand that. But it's a line of text on a web page - not some official declaration. I would imagine many gay couples consider themselves married even if the state in which they live only allows 'civil unions' in the eyes of the law. I just don't see the need for the distinction.

Don't we all know the whole 'civil union' silliness is just an alternate term for marriage to protect the overly sensitive religious types from being offended?

Regardless - and as I said before - it's just a personal stat on a social website...who gives a crap what someone selects?

[Richard Lauren]

12:50 PM on 02/19/2011

Facebook's Andrew Noyes, manager of public policy communications. "We want to provide options for people to genuinely and authentically reflect their relationships on Facebook."...

So that we can better profile you and then spam you with ads from dating services - sorry- 'trusted Facebook partners'...

[Margot707]

10:09 PM on 03/10/2011

Since they're already tracking users' site activity, Facebook already targets ads.

[LethargicTree]

09:01 AM on 02/19/2011

In a something pretty neat but I am a modern adult who doesn't require social validation for my relationship via status on a social networking site...relationship

[EveAngel]

10:31 PM on 02/20/2011

me either. high five ..j/k

[EveAngel]

10:32 PM on 02/20/2011

*neither

[one1byke]

07:34 AM on 02/19/2011

"Menage a trois", "Cuckold", and "Swingers" discrimination at its worse.

[LethargicTree]

09:01 AM on 02/19/2011

CUCKOLD

[one1byke]

05:43 PM on 02/19/2011

Bing!

[Satish Dass]

02:49 AM on 02/19/2011

I didn't know homosexuals required the acceptance of facebook to reassure themselves that they're a part of society. I guess they want to be treated equally, yet they need seperate designations for their relationship status on "facebook." But I guess this has not been activated in the middle east?

[SLOMO66]

11:52 AM on 02/19/2011

and therefore?......

[Richard Lauren]

12:52 PM on 02/19/2011

Facebooks latest 'feature' is an unnecessary intrusion.

Because essentially it is spyware masquerading as a social network... 0_o

[Faisal Saeed Al Mutar]

01:10 AM on 02/19/2011

Its always wonderful to hear such news , even though I am so (Heterosexual) but I have no problems at all with homosexuals , everyone has the right to love who ever they want to as long as do it rationally , Great Job Facebook !http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/facebook-adds-civil-union_n_824758.html#

[Mark Godbey]

06:00 PM on 02/18/2011

This is really much ado about nothing. Gays can marry just like everyone else. They are subject to the same state laws that everyone else is subject to obey. No one has absolute rights to do anything they want to do, and marriage is not a privacy issue, but an issue of what is best for society.

Marriage is no longer a purely private matter but a valid and urgent topic for public debate. "Marriage is more that a private emotional relationship," declares one team of scholars and advocates. "It is also a societal good." Why Marriage Matters - Institute for American Values.

[AshmiNYC]

09:27 PM on 02/18/2011

It is a little more complex than what you've stated above. In the US, same sex marriage is available in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont, and Washington, DC. "New York, California, Rhode Island, New Mexico and Washington, DC recognize marriages by same-sex couples legally performed elsewhere." writes Kathy Belge on About.com Gay Marriage - Where is Gay Marriage Legal. Same sex couples are not subject to the same state laws, in fact there are 100s that exclude them from the same benefits of a heterosexual couple.

I think the fact that the most widely adopted social network in the world is offering the opportunity for these couples to express their commitments online is actually a way of acknowledging that a relationship is not to be controlled by society. Everyone is entitled to the freedom to choose their own partner, and should have the same benefits regardless of their sexual preference.

[wernerholm]

09:07 PM on 02/19/2011

I am gay... got married in Ontario.... and live in Vermont. Driving through New England is a bit like playing hop scotch

"Married, Boyfriends, Signafigant Others, Married, Domestic Partners, Buddys...."

We always wonder as we cross a state line "what if we get in a wreck?" Do we get to visit eachother in the hospital... if I die do my elderly parents have to leave the nursing home to claim my body... or can my legal (in Canada) husband do it for them?

[SalesmanForLife]

05:21 PM on 02/18/2011

What is the big deal? I am sexual with my same sex and in a committed relationship.......civil or not, it is a union of sorts, certainly not perfect but better than most and a partnership somedays. I would not check either and would that make a diff? No.

[Richard Lauren]

12:56 PM on 02/19/2011

certainly not perfect but better than most...

Woahh there big fella!

Climb down off that high horse before it bucks you....

[Max Shaw]

04:27 PM on 02/18/2011

Thats cool that theyre finally getting around to that now.

[chaya]

04:12 PM on 02/18/2011

I'm hoping more businesses will do this as time goes by. I get so tired of endlessly crossing out "married" or "spouse" and writing in "domestic partner/s." Since I will never, ever, EVER say "single" (which would be a colossal insult to both my partner and our relationship), I always have to click "married" on computer forms--which means I'm being forced to lie, since my state won't allow us to marry.

[joelaf]

03:18 PM on 02/18/2011

Widowed only applies to women; men are widowers. This is a pet peeve of mine.

[David Bartlett]

05:20 PM on 02/18/2011

clearly.

[ebroadcast]

05:27 PM on 02/18/2011

I did not know that! ... that "widowed" only applies to women; not that its a pet peeve of yours ;)

[Ioan Lightoller]

06:03 PM on 02/18/2011

It doesn't. When a man loses his wife to death, he is called a widower but it is said that he is widowed at that point.

[dkrypt]

02:15 PM on 02/18/2011

Gays aren't prevented from marrying. They're just prevented from marrying the same sex and from marrying incestually - same as everyone is.

[Ioan Lightoller]

03:30 PM on 02/18/2011

It is still wrong. We are not attracted to the opposite sex nor do we fall in love with them. This is why we are called "same-sex" couples. Why should we spend the rest of our lives alone or with no protection for our relationships? To make you and the other haters happy? I don't think so.

[David Bartlett]

05:21 PM on 02/18/2011

"Gays aren't prevented from marrying. They're just prevented from marrying the same sex"- what in idiotic statement

[Max Shaw]

04:27 PM on 02/18/2011

How fu**ed would it be if they actually had an option for 'incestuous relationship'???!

[silentfury]

05:52 PM on 02/18/2011

As fu**ed as it would be for everyone to be forced to live by the contradictory social mores of christianity

[Tunghoy]

01:05 AM on 02/19/2011

That appears only on the screens of people in West Virginia and Kentucky.