New York, June 17 (IANS): Just like different sex couples, most same sex couples believe in marriage to bring in social legitimacy, legal benefits and financial protection, finds a survey.

The survey that included participants from 47 states of the US, excluding Alaska, Idaho and South Dakota, showed 90 percent of the respondents felt that the option to marry was important to their relationship.

While 91 percent of the respondents said legal marriage was important for legal benefits and financial protection, 36 percent said marriage was necessary for relationship legitimacy.

"The remarks about the legal benefits and financial protections are not surprising because we have heard so much about that from news interviews," said researcher Stephen Haas, associate professor of communication at University of Cincinnati.

"But that second category of relationship legitimacy - of having societal legitimacy - stood out to me. We received responses such as, 'My partner does not get invited on family vacations because we are not married. But if we were married, my partner would be invited'. So in the view of family origin, it was very important," Haas said.

The results were published online in the Journal of Homosexuality.

The survey also found that many same-sex couples view living together as significant because it symbolises and solidifies their commitment to their relationship, possibly because marriage has never been an option.

The online survey included 526 individuals who reported they were in a committed, same-sex relationship for at least six months.