Newswise — Rockway Institute, a national center for LGBT research and public policy, has a wide range of experts available on a variety of LGBT topics. On marriage and relationships, especially the effects of legal status on same-sex relationships, we can offer the following highly knowledgeable sources:

Robert-Jay Green, PhD, executive director of Rockway Institute and Distinguished Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP), Alliant International University, San Francisco. Green has more than 30 years' experience counseling gay and lesbian couples and has written extensively on the stresses facing same-sex couples as they cope with minority status and develop support networks. He and his doctoral students recently completed an eight-year research project showing that gay partners who were emotionally closer and received more social acceptance from family and friends for being gay and for being in a couple relationship were more likely to obtain a legalized status for their relationship. Contact Green at [email protected] or 415-955-2121.

Esther Rothblum, PhD, professor of women's studies at San Diego State University. Rothblum recently published results of a three-year follow up study on the effect of civil unions in Vermont on same-sex couples and a comparison study of relationship quality between same-sex versus male-female couples. Contact Rothblum at [email protected] or 415-407-9013 (cell).

Kimberly Richman, PhD, is assistant professor of sociology at the University of San Francisco. She is engages in a large-scale, federally funded study of the legal same-sex marriage experience in San Francisco and Massachusetts. She also is writing a book on the role of judicial narratives in the construction of legal and social meanings, rationales and outcomes in child custody, adoption and visitations cases involving gay and lesbian parents. Contact Richman at [email protected] or 415-422-5414.

Judith Stacey, PhD, is professor of sociology and of gender and sexuality at New York University. She previously taught at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Davis. Her work focuses on diversity in family structure. She is most known for her research on gay and lesbian couple and parenting issues. Contact Stacey at [email protected] or 212-228-9838.

Should you have difficulty reaching any of these experts, contact Rick Moore, Rockway Institute communications, at [email protected] or 415-314-8952.

ABOUT THE ROCKWAY INSTITUTE: A National Center for LGBT Research, Education & Public Policy

The nonpartisan Rockway Institute brings together scientific research and professional expertise to counter antigay prejudice and inform public policies affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The Institute's view is that public opinion, policies, and programs should be shaped by the facts about LGBT lives, not by political ideology. A primary goal is to organize the most knowledgeable social scientists, mental health professionals, and physicians in the United States to provide accurate information about LGBT issues to the media, legislatures, and courts. The Institute also conducts targeted research projects to address the nation's most pressing LGBT public policy questions.

Website: www.RockwayInstitute.org

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