From “Mass Equality” to “Kentucky Fairness”: Mapping the Gay Marriage Movement in Two US States

In their landmark 1994 study, The Social Organization of Sexuality, researchers Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, and Michaels recognize a regional distribution of attitudes about sexuality in the US. The New England region, where gay marriage was first made legal in Massachusetts, is characterized as one of the most progressive (a close second to the Pacific region) and the East South Central region, where Kentucky is located, is characterized as the region with least progressive attitudes concerning sexuality and sexual behaviour. While Kentucky lags behind Massachusetts in recognizing many aspects of gay rights, including gay marriage, there is an active and vibrant LGBT movement there. My research objective is to advance the current literature beyond a focus on the negative reactions to gay marriage in the US, to an exploration of the how positive outcomes are achieved in terms of legal recognition for same-sex couples in spite of an overall political climate stacked against gay marriage. My analysis is an in-depth comparison of the social forces at work in both Massachusetts and Kentucky that shape the success, in Massachusetts' case, and failure, as in Kentucky, of gay marriage legislation.

This project will entail two phases. Phase I will be a documentary analysis of the arguments and actions of both sides of the gay marriage movement in both states. This strategy will map the playing field laid out for the gay marriage movements in their respective states. Phase II will include interviews with key gay marriage social movement organizations and supportive legislators in both Massachusetts and Kentucky to identify the successful strategies used by the LGBT rights movements to challenge the momentum of the anti-gay marriage movement.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Youth and HIV Education

(with Dr. Barry Adam, Sandra Bortolin, and Catherine Brooke)

This is an exciting research project supported by the Ontario HIV Treatment Network.  We conducted 22 interviews with lesbian, gay and bisexual youth aged sixteen to twenty-two. Interviews assessed whether or not respondents recieved relevant and accurate information about HIV prevention in high school or from other sources, and to what degree the high school environment was generally supportive of LGB students.. This project is now complete. Results are included in The Ontario Physical Health and Education Curriculum Review, a report submitted to the Ministry of Health by the Ontario Committe on HIV/AIDS. This report will contribute to the development of informative, effective and inclusive sex education programs in high schools. The research team also used these data to produce three scholarly research papers:

The Marriage Project

(with Dr. Barry Adam, Sandra Bortolin, and Catherine Brooke, in conjunction with researchers at University of Toronto and McMaster University)

The marriage project is a combined effort of leading researchers at three Canadian Universities: University of Toronto, McMaster University, and the University of Windsor. Heterosexual and Homosexual couples are being interviewed in three Ontarian cities (Toronto, Hamilton, and Windsor) with five objectives in mind: 1) to explore how same-sex marriages, heterosexual marriages and same-sex common law unions are alike or different in terms of economics, family structure, family, work and community support, and sexual arrangements; 2) to observe how lesbian and gay partners/spouses talk about marriage, and what marriage means to them 3) to identify reasons why some same-sex couples to choose to marry, but others remain common-law partners; 4) to explore the role of gender and sexual identity in marital arrangements; and 5) to understand whether same-sex marriage makes a difference in HIV negotiation and safer-sex practices.  This project is funded by grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.  

 

Forthcoming:

2009 The Role of Emotion in the Gay Marriage Movement. Society for the Study 
of Social Problems Annual Meeting. San Francisco, California. August 8.

2009 Coming Out or Going Back? Negotiating Sexual Identities, Communities,
          and Movements  Co-authored with Ahoo Tabatabai. Society for the Study 
         of Social Problems Annual Meeting. San Francisco, California. August 8.

2009 Out With the Old and In With the New? Marxism and New Social
         Movements. American Sociological Association Annual meeting. San
         Francisico, California.  August 9.