Hetero people who don't believe in marriage and/or don't like husband/wife titles sometimes use titles like partner too because girlfriend/boyfriend doesn't sound serious enough I guess. Common amongst my social circle but I get why it's usually a dog whistle.

You know what's funny about that? A lot of my hetero friends also say partner.

I started using it because it removes the baggage that gendered terms carry. My wife is my best friend. I like to do everything with her. We split chores pretty evenly.

Online, at least, I've probably heard more hetero people than gay people use "partner." In some cases they were in fact perfectly conventionally full-blown married, they just weren't interested in sharing any more details than they had to to tell whatever story they were telling, because that detail wasn't important for the story.

I know many (myself included) who are in heterosexual relationships and say partner due to not being married. It's a pretty common thing.....

This is a you issue

Same. You're getting downvoted because lemmy cannot allow for regional language distinctions. Not even different countries, regions. It's a big world.

No one where I'm at would refer to a married couple as partners. Nothing wrong with that, but it usually connotes a gay relationship.