International Conference Same-sex couples, same-sex partnerships and homosexual marriages. A focus on cross-country differentials Stockholm 25-26 September 2003 CALL FOR PAPERS Since 1989, nine European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Fin

International Conference
Same-sex couples, same-sex partnerships and homosexual marriages. A focus on cross-country differentials
Stockholm 25-26 September 2003

CALL FOR PAPERS

Since 1989, nine European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden) have provided to same-sex couples the opportunity to register their union in front of a representative of the State and thus contracting legal rights and duties.
This ongoing process started in 1989 in Denmark. A time-period which allows to start analysis, on how registrations and marriages got their legal character, of how people reacted to the elaboration of the laws and their use.
This conference aims to gather the researchers working on the topic in order to picture the current state of the research on the different countries. The research purpose is directed towards the explanation of why people register/marry (or not) and to find out which type of society favours the registration/marriage and why.
The study of the same-sex couple will be at the heart of our concern.
The knowledge of the social interactions involved in the process of same-sex registrations and marriages can be addressed through various disciplines: the law (which differences of status, rights and obligations exist between the registered or not, married or not, couples?), demography (which populations of couples do register or not, marry or not?) anthropology and sociology (which social conditions in which institutions lead to the passage from not-registered to registered and not-married to married and in what sense homosexual and heterosexual couples differ?).
A cross-national analysis will reveal if people register/marry more frequently here than there and under which conditions and will seek to find out if higher frequencies of registration reflect higher numbers of couples (per inhabitant) or higher propensities to register. It will reveal also the driving forces, which are to interact at different levels (individual and societal).

The conference will be divided in 5 sessions : details of the sessions available at http://www-same-sex.ined.fr/

· The adoption of the laws: Contextual and historical factors
· From the steady relationship to the couple: The social and the symbolic
· Facts towards equality: Law factors
· What sexual identity?: The number and its construction
· Statistical and demographic factors



Procedure for abstracts

The choice of the presentations at the Conference will be based on abstracts. It must fully fit to the themes proposed by the Conference’s scientific proposal. The conference deals with Registered partnerships and same-sex marriages. Therefore, contributions, if not theoretical, must referred at least to one of the 9 countries listed on the scientific proposal.

Once the presentation accepted by the organizers, full papers will be expected not later than September 15, 2003.
Abstracts and papers will be accessible on the Conference web site.

The following rules apply:

Abstracts should be in English, since this will be the working language of the conference and should not exceed 500 words.
Abstracts should reflect the essentials of the proposed contribution.

1. Indicate the session in which you think your paper would fit.
2. Name and affiliation of the author(s), with full address, phone/fax/email of the principal author.
3. Indicate country(ies) covered or theoretical approach
4. Background and purpose of the research.
5. Main findings of the research


Deadlines:
Abstract: June 15, 2003 Selection of papers will be done immediately. Answers will be given not later than June 30, 2003
Paper: September 15, 2003



Abstracts must be sent by e-mail or regular mail to :

Marie Digoix (mad@ined.fr) or Patrick Festy (festy@ined.fr)
International Comparisons Research Unit
INED
133 bd Davout
75980 PARIS Cedex 20
France

Access to the conference is free of charge.
To attend, please register on the Conference web site from the 1st of June.
http://www-same-sex.ined.fr/