The past few decades have seen meaningful strides in celebrating and accepting LGBTQ+ relationships and marriages, and what was once considered taboo is now becoming more widely embraced and normalized. Same-sex marriage is now legally recognized nationwide in the United States, and Pride festivals and parades worldwide draw massive crowds to honor and uplift LGBTQ+ identities. Yet ongoing challenges remain. Many LGBTQ+ couples face judgment or misunderstanding from friends and family. Harassment and discrimination still occur in schools, workplaces, health-care settings, and communities. And even within couples, differences in sexuality or gender identity can complicate the relationship. Thankfully, you’re not alone. No matter what type of situation you find yourself in, the chances are good that someone else has walked this road before you, and there’s bound to be support out there to help you find validation, work through your differences, and have a happy and healthy relationship. The journey is unique for every couple, but the message is universal: love is love. Resources exist to nurture that love in all its wonderful diversity.

• Handling LGBTQ+ Crushes and Relationships: Having a crush on someone can feel challenging or even isolating if you’re in the closet or struggling with your own sexual and/or gender identity.
• Four Tips to Start Dating as a Queer Person: If you’ve just come out, it can be tricky to figure out what the societal expectations are for beginning a relationship.
• Five Black Queer Couples That Prove Love Is Limitless: Reading about other queer couples who love each other proudly can help you feel like you’re not alone.
• Sex in Relationships: Queer Sex Ed: Navigating sexual relationships can be challenging when traditional sex ed didn’t address topics relevant to queer sexuality.
• Growing a Bi Community: The Bisexual Resource Center put together this guide to help bisexual people to bring together their own local support networks.
• Marriage Equality Around the World: If you’re considering marriage, research your options for where you could legally tie the knot.
• LGBTQ Relationships: Learn about the characteristics of healthy relationships, alarming statistics about partner abuse, and how you can find support.
• How to Find Wedding Vendors That Celebrate Inclusion: When you’re planning your wedding, the last thing you want is to face hostility from closed-minded vendors.
• Questions LGBTQ+ Couples Have When Planning a Wedding: Weddings are often steeped in age-old and heteronormative traditions, which can lead to a lot of questions when you’re planning a wedding for an LGBTQ+ couple. Who pays for what? Who will walk down the aisle when? Can you have “groomsmen” if there’s no groom? What should you wear? The good news is that since it’s your wedding, you’re free to come up with whatever solutions work best for you.
• My Husband Is Now My Wife: When one partner in a relationship transitions, the other must make their own transition, either adjusting their view of the relationship and their place in it or deciding to leave. While the trans spouse is ready to eagerly embrace their true gender, their spouse may struggle with what this means in terms of their own sexuality and identity.
• A Practical Guide to Survivor Benefits for LGBTQ+ Couples: Social Security benefits long available to straight people who lost a spouse or parent are now available to same-sex spouses as well.
• Tools for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming People to Address Discrimination: When you, your spouse, or both of you face discrimination based on your gender identity, standing up to it starts with knowing your rights.
• The LGBTQ+ “Panic” Defense and Your Safety: In some states, people can use your gender or sexuality as an excuse to help justify a violent crime against you. Understanding what this defense is and where it is allowed can help to keep you and your spouse safe.
• Asexual People and Relationships: In a world where many people conflate sexual and romantic attraction, asexuals can find it challenging to maintain healthy relationships, especially if their partner is allosexual. Open communication is key to resolving differences in sexual attraction and ensuring that both people are satisfied with the relationship.
• Partner Abuse in LGBTQ+ Communities: It’s estimated that 25% or more of LGBTQ+ people have been abused by a partner, including more than half of transgender people. Help and support are available for those who are being or have been abused as well as partners seeking to help abuse victims overcome their trauma.
• Intersex Dating: Finding Love Across the Intersection: Intersex people are too often viewed as a medical curiosity, which can make finding that special someone difficult. However, it’s not impossible.
• How to Have a More Gender-Neutral Wedding: Wedding planning can be a very gendered experience, but it doesn’t have to be.
• Queerplatonic Relationships: Not Friendship, Not Dating: Close, bonded relationships don’t necessarily have to be romantic, but people in a QPR are still more than just friends.
• Seven Ways to Lovingly Support Your Nonbinary Partner: Supporting your partner during a period of transition in their gender identity and/or presentation can be an evolution of your relationship that brings you closer.
• Support for Straight Spouses: OurPath offers a variety of resources to help straight people in relationships with LGBTQ+ people to adjust and find their own best path forward.
• Transgender People and Marriage Laws: While all American adults have the right to marry someone of any gender, transgender spouses can run into legal complications, from not being allowed to put their true gender identity or name on their marriage license to facing pushback when they want to become parents.
• What to Expect When You’re LGBTQ+ and Want Children: Family planning can pose some unique challenges for LGBTQ+ couples, but understanding your options can help you to become parents.
• LGBTQ+ Safety Guide for Travelers: Before you plan a vacation with your significant other, learn about which destinations are likely to welcome you and which could endanger your safety.
• Securing LGBTQ+ Parentage by State: If you’re part of a same-sex couple and want to have children, you’ll often need to use the adoption process to make sure that both parents are legally recognized.