Clinical Issues with Gay Male Couples

SUMMARY Although gay male couples share with all couples three essential tasks of couplehood-creating boundaries in order to form a couple identity, negotiating closeness and distance, and accommodating to their individual differences-gay male couples face special complications in each task. These complications, examined herein, are largely the result of the marginalization gay men experience from living in a homophobic culture, and male gender acculturation that makes male-to-male intimacy difficult. A model of brief couple therapy for gay men is presented that is designed to honor, as well as challenge, the relationship the men have co-constructed and specifically addresses the difficulties men have in maintaining intimate bonds. A case study illustrates the treatment of clinical issues presented by male couples.