I think the article’s claims are wishful thinking that someone has the magical answers to relationships If Only You Were More Understanding When/About/Of (insert moral here).
The article specifically says that projected over 40 years, the breakup rate of gay/lesbian couples nears 64%, nearly the 67% breakup rate for heterosexual couples. Perhaps the article is correct and the 38 gay and lebian couples interviewed did have a better method of conflict resolution and a more honest level of discussion. Certainly anyone would benefit from such advice. But did it help? I’m not sure that the bottom line – similar levels of projected relationship dissoluton – shows that this makes a whit of difference. How again does this article purport to prove its point?
A better and more scientific solution would be, to my mind, analyzing all relationships and how they work over time and only incidentally noting factors such as sex and sexual preference. Sounds to me like someone conducting the study had something to prove.
I do think that there’s a factor to consider that isn’t necessarily keyed to orientation qua orientation. Different cultures have different strengths; if people group together on the basis of a particular trait they will likely work out means of dealing with many of the problems associated with that trait or with the interaction of that trait with their culture; many of these insights and solutions would be useful to the people who don’t have that trait, but have related problems.
The gay community has, for example, had reason to come up with new means of supporting the strength of a family when the native supports for families in their surrounding communities have not been available to them. This knowledge could be helpful to people who are trying to build families of which their parents disapprove and to people who have access to those supports, but who want to strengthen their families without depending on them.
But also, the BDSM community has worked out concepts such as safewords and developed a huge span of communications protocols for resolving difficulties; the awareness of consent that’s fairly common there would be a wonderful thing to see in the general population. The polyamorous community has also worked on communications protocols, not to mention skills at resolving jealousy and handling relationship time management. Trans and genderqueer folks have learned to deal with the difference between identification and external appearance, and have done a fair number on the idea of small, neatly identifiable role-boxes for people in general.
I’d say that just about anyone can learn these skills (and others, but I’m sticking to things that are likely to directly influence relationships), and most of them will be useful to many, maybe even most people.
Y’know, this is slightly off-topic, but I was a bit puzzled by this:
The heck? The only relationship-stereotypical thing in that show is that somehow the Gay Guys are supposed to know what the Straight Guy’s Lady is looking for in food/grooming/dancing while he is oblivious. But I don’t think anyone signs up Kyan and the boys for marriage counselling… or do they?