# Does "partner" and "spouse" terminology signal LGBT-friendly in England the way it does in the U.S.?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-partner-and-spouse-terminology-signal-lgbt-friendly-in-england-the-way-it-does-in-the-u-s/761370>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 31, 2016, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-partner-and-spouse-terminology-signal-lgbt-friendly-in-england-the-way-it-does-in-the-u-s/761370 "2016-07-31T12:05:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-partner-and-spouse-terminology-signal-lgbt-friendly-in-england-the-way-it-does-in-the-u-s/761370/21 "2016-07-31T22:54:26Z")

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I’ve never heard either ‘partner’ or ‘spouse’ used to signal inclusivity, and I don’t see how they would do that. LGBT people have boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives, just like straight cis people do. How would any of those words be non-inclusive?

Around here (Ireland), ‘partner’ means ‘It would feel silly using boyfriend/girlfriend at my age and/or for a relationship of this seriousness’, and I’ve never heard anyone use ‘spouse’.

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**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-partner-and-spouse-terminology-signal-lgbt-friendly-in-england-the-way-it-does-in-the-u-s/761370/22 "2016-08-01T01:23:21Z")

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In Australia, “partner” suggests a committed conjugal partner; partners may or may not be married. (It also suggests a business partner, but it’s usually from the context which sense is invoked.) “My partner”, in the romantic/conjugal sense, could be of either gender, and we may or may not be married.

A partner to whom you are definitely not married is your “de facto”. Again, this is gender-meutral; if I mention “my partner” you don’t know whether that’s a man or a woman, unless you already know my orientation.

A partner to whom definitely are married is either your husband or your wife, depending on the partner’s gender (and regardless of yours). “Spouse”, I think, is only used in the plural, in contexts which suggest both husbands and wives.

“Signficant other” isn’t used, in my experience, except humorously. The two-adjectives-in-search-of-a-noun structure just screams mealy-mouthed euphemism.

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