The paper addresses the emergence of same sex relationships as a public policy issue in contemporary society. Historical and cross-cultural evidence shows how same-sex relationships have been an integral part of the kinship system, household economies, and iconography of many societies, and that desire and relationship are produced in diverse ways at the confluence of kinship, gender, and life stage expectations circulating in different societies. Recent history of the advanced, industrial societies is characterised by sharp shifts in the conceptualization of same sex relationship, from sin, sickness, and crime to a patchwork of “relationship recognition” forms in just a few decades. Relationship recognition and “gay marriage” are just the beginning of a process of documenting and affirming relationship innovation among LGBT people. On the horizon are looming new debates over reproductive rights, child raising, the (over)valorization of the couple, and social service provision throughout the life course
