Gays May Want to Marry But More Couples Are 'Living In Sin'

Gay marriage may be in the headlines but, increasingly, unmarried couples are in the bedroom.

An analysis of census data by the Pew Research Center finds that cohabitation – what some might call “living in sin” – is an increasingly prevalent lifestyle in the United States.

The share of 30- to 44-year-olds living as unmarried couples has more than doubled since the mid-1990s. Adults with lower levels of education — without college degrees — are twice as likely to cohabit as those with college degrees.

But just because cohabiting is becoming more common doesn't mean everybody likes it.

'A cheap sweater'

Rev. Steve Lawson of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., says society's coming undone: "Our country is unraveling like a cheap sweater and all around us there is the cesspool of iniquity that is splashing on us."

Lawson spoke yesterday at the 2011 Resolved Conference in Southern California. He lambasted former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer and former Sen. John Edwards as government officials who have contributed to the unraveling.

Lawson, however, did not condemn Spitzer's successor, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for pushing a gay marriage bill through the New York Legislature.

The Catholic Church, on the other hand, has been rough on Cuomo not only for his support of gay rights but also for his cohabiting with Food Network star Sandra Lee – a situation described by Vatican adviser Edward Peters as “public concubinage.” Peters recommended that Cuomo be denied communion until he resolved “the scandal” by ceasing the cohabiting.

Not always best

But whether it is or isn't immoral, Pew's research also suggests that cohabitation may not be for everyone. Less-educated adults are less likely to realize the economic benefits associated with cohabitation, the study found. The typical college-educated cohabiter is at least as well off as a comparably educated married adult and better off than an adult without an opposite-sex partner.

By contrast, a cohabiter without a college degree typically is worse off than a comparably educated married adult and no better off economically than an adult without an opposite-sex partner. (Most adults without opposite-sex partners live with other adults or children.)

Among the 30- to 44-year-old U.S. adults who are the focus of this report, 7% lived with an opposite-sex partner in 2009, according to census data. The share is higher among adults without a college education (8%) than among those with college degrees (4%).

It's not just an American phenomenon.

Almost six out of 10 Australians believe it is acceptable for couples to live together despite having no intention of marrying, a new survey has revealed, according to a study by the Melbourne Institute.

The study also found two-thirds of Australians believing women and men did not need to have a child in order to be fulfilled.