Halvorsen R
Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Dragvoll, Norway.
J Homosex. 1998;35(3-4):207-31. doi: 10.1300/J082v35n03_09.
The article discusses the Registered Partnership Act, passed in Norway in 1993, which has given gay and lesbian couples a right to register their relationship and to obtain many of the legal rights that heterosexual couples have. The article argues that the introduction of the Act is a product of, among others, cohabitation having become more legitimate as a life-form also among heterosexuals. The practical consequences of the Act have been modest, with relatively few couples having registered their relationship. The article suggests that the symbolic rather than the practical aspects of the Act have been important, and even then, the symbolic effect of the Act is equivocal. The new formal rights of gays and lesbians are of decreasing social and symbolic value, as new boundaries for legitimate life-forms are being demarcated elsewhere: While legislation on marriage concedes that personal relationships are a private matter, the right to have and to foster children is regarded as an issue where society at large should have a say. This view is also reflected in the restrictions that the Registered Partnership Act has placed on gay and lesbian couples in having children of their own.
本文讨论了1993年在挪威通过的《注册伴侣关系法》，该法案赋予了同性恋伴侣登记其关系并获得许多异性恋伴侣所拥有的合法权利的权利。文章认为，该法案的出台是多种因素作用的结果，其中包括同居在异性恋中也已成为一种更合法的生活形式。该法案的实际效果并不显著，登记关系的伴侣相对较少。文章指出，该法案的象征意义而非实际意义更为重要，即便如此，该法案的象征效果也并不明确。同性恋者的新形式权利的社会和象征价值在不断降低，因为合法生活形式的新界限正在其他地方划定：虽然婚姻立法承认个人关系是私事，但生育和抚养孩子的权利被视为整个社会都应有所发言权的问题。这种观点也反映在《注册伴侣关系法》对同性恋伴侣生育自己孩子所设置的限制上。
