ABSTRACT
Relationship maintenance in romantic relationships can be understood as employing communicative strategies and behaviors that prevent relationship dissolution through "parties' efforts to sustain a dynamic equilibrium in their relationship definition and satisfaction levels as they cope with the ebb and flow of everyday relating". Gay and lesbian relationships have been recognized as being understudied by researchers across academic disciplines. The lack of institutional recognition for homosexual couples plays a very powerful role in their stability. Heterosexual unions are sanctioned by the church and the state through the marriage ceremony. One assumption was that gays and lesbians were more sexually promiscuous than heterosexuals and were unable to establish and maintain meaningful, long-term, intimate relationships. Sexual exclusivity, or monogamy, has long been applied as model for heterosexual relationships by church and state. Some gay people use the heterosexual model and remain monogamous; some are influenced by religious doctrines and remain monogamous; and others simply do whatever works best for their particular relationships.
