Same-sex Unions Research Articles

Same-Sex Unions and the Spectacles of Recognition

The boundary between homo- and heterosexuality once stood solidly in our cultural imagination, marked off by a set of assumed differences that were purportedly made manifest in real, material ways. Gays and lesbians, so the story went, were verifiably different from straight people, but gradually, the perceived boundary between the two sexualities has eroded. It has been 30 years since the American Psychological Association cured us of our homosexuality with the stroke of a pen. Despite the enthusiastic application of scientific and statistical technologies, the efforts of researchers such as Dean Hamer, Peter Copeland, and Simon LeVay (just to name a few), have failed to show conclusively that our ears, fingers, brains, or genes actually reveal anything concrete about our choices of sexual partners. Lawrence v. Texas (2003) has knocked down Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) as well as the remaining sodomy laws, expanded the right of privacy to include same-sex sex, and in the wake of Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health (2003) Massachusetts has begun allowing same-sex couples to marry. In contrast to many European nations, gay and lesbian parents in the United States are winning legal victories with increasing frequency, gaining greater access to adoption and child custody despite jurisdictional variation. For that diminishing segment of the population that still desperately wants a clear marker of its sexual superiority the news is not good. Fortunately for them, heterosexuals still have one clearly identifiable social sanctuary where they can remind themselves that they have something that non-heterosexuals do not: marriage. With a minimum of effort and expense, one man and one woman can enter into a relationship with the state that brings about numerous legal benefits, obligations, and privileges. Despite some advances, marriage thus stands as one of the last clearly exclusive, forcefully bounded, brightly illuminated enclaves where gays and lesbians may not tread; it remains for heterosexuals only (or at least, for those who want to appear that way).

A Demographic Analysis of Registered Partnerships (legal same-sex unions): The Case of Norway

In 1993, Norway became the second country in the world to introduce registered partnerships. As with same-sex marriages, registered partnerships give the same rights and duties as marriages for opposite sex couples, with a few exceptions. The present article describes this ‘new’ demographic event based on Norwegian experiences. Compared to the number of new cases each year of opposite-sex marriages, registered partnerships amount to less than 1%. Gay partnerships are more common than lesbian partnerships, but the proportion of female partnerships has increased since the law came into force. In one out of five partnerships, one or both partners have been previously married to a person of the opposite sex. At the time they entered into the partnership, 24% of the women and 13 of the men had at least one child. When examining the registered partnerships entered into in Norway between 1993 and 2001 we estimated the probability of divorce to be 16% after six years. We also carried out a multivariate analysis of the divorce risk and found that the divorce risk for female partnerships is double that of the risk for male partnerships. Another high risk group is partnerships between a Norwegian and a person from a non-Nordic country.

Pulp fictions of medieval England: essays in popular romance

Introduction - Nicola McDonald 1. Incorporation in the 'Siege of Melayne' - Suzanne Conklin Akbari 2. The twin demons of aristocratic society in 'Sir Gowther' - Alcuin Blamires 3. A, A and B: Coding same-sex union in 'Amis and Amiloun' - Sheila Delany 4. 'Sir Degrevant': What lovers want - Arlyn Diamond 5. Putting the pulp into fiction: The lump-child and its parents in 'The King of Tars' - Jane Gilbert 6. Eating people and the alimentary logic of 'Richard Coeur de Lion' - Nicola McDonald 7. 'The Siege of Jerusalem' and recuperative readings - Elisa Narin Van Court 8. Story line and story shape in 'Sir Percyvell of Gales Chretien de Troyes's Conte du Graal' - Ad Putter 9. Temporary virginity and the everyday body: 'Le Bone Florence of Rome' and bourgeois self-making' - Felicity Riddy 10. Romancing the East: Greeks and Saracens in 'Guy of Warwick' - Rebecca Wilcox

Exploring Domestic Partnership Benefits Policies in Corporate America

ABSTRACT This article examines the domestic partner benefits (DP benefits) movement in corporate America, among Fortune 500 companies. An unprecedented number of Fortune 500 corporations started to extend equal benefits to their employees in the late 1990s. One-third of Fortune 500 companies now extend DP benefits to their gay employees despite national refusal to legally recognize same-sex unions. We provide a macro analysis of the 2002 Fortune 500 companies to explore the characteristics of the corporations that offer the benefits and the impetus for adopting these new gay friendly policies. Findings are that top ranked Fortune 500 and industry leaders act as benchmarkers for the corporate community. Region of the corporate headquarters and commitment to diversity issues also inform these organizational changes. Isomorphisic processes offer viable explanations for the transformation of the corporate climate that touts DP benefit policies as “the right thing to do” and considers these policies as good business sense in order to compete for employees. The DP benefits movement reflects corporate America trying to enhance their reputational capital by including gay issues as part of their diversity programs and policies.

Assembly Members Tackle Wide-Ranging Agenda

Assembly Members Tackle Wide-Ranging Agenda

Same-Sex Partnerships

As I thought about, and then wrote, this article in the first half of 2003, the press startlingly filled up with commentaries about same-sex partnerships. Partly this was because same-sex relationships became a major issue for the Christian (and especially Anglican) Church. Thus the British newspaper, The Guardian, headlined a story: ‘Blessing for Male Partners Reopens Church’s Wounds on Gays’ (Bates, 2003: 3), whilst a subsidiary headline said ‘Calling on us to resign would mean the church losing a third of its staff’. The ‘us’ are lesbian or gay clergy, and the overall story was about the Anglican communion being wracked by divisions about the recognition and blessing of same-sex unions. The question of gay bishops and their celibacy further inflamed the situation, following the nomination of Canon Jeffrey John (and his subsequent withdrawal) as Bishop of Reading. His ‘active’ homosexual past, even in a long-term committed relationship with another man, was sufficient to deny him preferment (Gledhill 2003; Morgan, 2003). The Church was apparently in danger of splitting apart on an issue that less than a generation earlier would have been regarded as too arcane and irrelevant to be worthy of consideration. But ructions in the Church were only one aspect of a genuine cultural revolution, which left many people unsettled. From being a minority concern little more than a decade ago (in the desire for ‘gay marriage’), today the campaign for the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships in some form has become the dominant claim in the non-heterosexual communities (see Wintermute and Andenaes, 2001; Merin, 2002), as well as of obvious concern to the faith communities whose injunctions helped taboo same-sex activities in the first place. Even in the laggard UK, partly under pressure from Europe and the courts, there were modest changes from the late 1990s, for example in the immigration regulations and on tenancy rights, which recognized same-sex relationships. Several UK cities, including London, Brighton and Leeds, instituted symbolic, though not legally binding, commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples in the early 2000s. Yet more significant changes were signaled in 2002–03. At the end of 2002 the Blair government successfully passed through Parliament new adoption procedures, which fully recognized the rights of lesbian and gay couples (and in fact

Devant Dieu et face au droit ?

Religious same-sex marriage in the United States are used in this paper as a way to describe state-church relationships. Same-sex unions are occurring in a context in which the ministers act as agent of the state when they perform heterosexual marriages, and in which internal struggles around gay equality within the churches thrive. Here, we borrow a useful typology constructed by P. Ewick and S. Silbey in their book The Common Place of Law to describe religious same-sex marriage, sometimes before the law, sometimes against the law and sometimes engaged with the law.

"Queer myself for good and all": The House of Mirth and the Fictions of Lily's Whiteness

At the conclusion of Edith Wharton's 1905 novel The House of Mirth, few options remain the novel's heroine Lily Bart. Forced out of the upper echelons of Old New York by false accusations of sexual impropriety, Lily recognizes that the only way to end her troubles may be to marry Simon Rosedale, the ardent and wealthy Jewish suitor whom she has rejected repeatedly due to his race. Marriage to Rosedale, however, would come at cost: she must use the set of stolen love letters in her possession to blackmail her friend-turned-enemy, Bertha Dorset, and reinstate herself in society. Unless Lily satisfies this condition, Rosedale--equally shrewd in matters of money and the heart--will withdraw his long-standing proposal of marriage. As he explains bluntly, I'm more in love with you than ever, but if I married you now I'd myself good and and everything I've worked all these years would be wasted (362). In the turn-of-the-century context of The House of Mirth, the verb queer refers to the act of decentering identity. For Rosedale, marriage to Lily--if she does not clear her name--would forever render him an outcast. This meaning of queer clearly anticipates our contemporary understanding of the word. Queer theorists argue that queer resists definition, referring instead to identities that are always in the process of being destabilized and thus cannot be fixed or defined. But queer as is used today usually refers to sexual identity. (1) In contrast, Rosedale's fears about marrying Lily play out in terms of race, class, gender, and sexuality. In stating that union with Lily would him for good and all, Rosedale indicates that queerness was part of his identity that he tried to shed as he worked his way up in society. Due to their ethnic difference, Jews like Rosedale were perceived as queer at the turn of the century, and this placed them on the border between Americaness and racial otherness. Yet by trying to erase the signs of this difference and be accepted among the white elites, Rosedale--through his potential sameness--threatens to destabilize whiteness itself. Rosedale has attempted to trade an unstable Jewish identity more fixed white one and thereby lose some of his queerness, but marriage to Lily--whose social decline parallels his ascent--would reverse this process. It would ironically fix him as queer, as beyond the pale. In implicating Lily as one who could queer him, Rosedale draws attention to her new status on the margins of society and reveals the instability of her sexual, racial, and class identities. This essay examines the relationship between Lily and Rosedale alongside another queer alternative available to the novel's heroine once she is cast aside by most of her former friends. At this point in the novel, Lily is also presented with proposal from the bachelor Lawrence Selden, the gentleman who has won her heart, but whom she does not dare marry due to his lack of adequate funds. But Selden does not ask that Lily share her life with him; instead he proposes that she form union with another woman. Prompted by his cousin Gerty Farish, Selden puts forth this plan: [Y]ou and [Gerty] could surely contrive life together which would put you beyond the need of having to support yourself. Gerty, I know, is eager to make such an arrangement, and would be quite happy in it (394). In the extensive criticism of The House of Mirth, this other alternative, same-sex union with Gertrude Farish, the novel's closest approximation to the historical New Woman, goes strangely unremarked. To complicate matters, Gerty also purports to be an admirer of Lawrence Selden. Lily, Gerty, and Selden compose an erotic triangle that, in the words of Eve Sedgwick, is a sensitive register precisely delineating relationships of power and meaning, and making graphically intelligible the play of desire and identification (27). As testament to the triangulated relationship between Selden and the two women, the proposal of marriage that Selden never makes is displaced onto his proposed union of Gerty and Lily. …

Love, Sex and Marriage in the Middle Ages: A Sourcebook (review)

240 Short Notices Parergon 21.1 (2004) The scholarly apparatus is helpful, without being cumbersome. Brief textual notes explain historical, literary and mythological allusions, and gloss archaic word usages and denser examples of grammar. In addition, Fellows provides a comprehensive bibliography of both primary sources and secondary material. This sixteenth-century text is, therefore, very accessible to general reader and specialist alike, and the latter will find this edition an invaluable starting point for further research. Understanding the place of this text, its merits, and its appeal, are certainly all the easier for Fellows’ painstaking scholarly work. Lastly, I would like to comment on the role of Ashgate in supporting this sort of scholarly research through their willingness to publish a series devoted to Non-Canonical Early Modern Texts. In view of the much-discussed crisis in academic publishing, as well as the general difficulties of teaching early modern literature and lesser-known works, Ashgate should be commended for their decision; this book, for one, demonstrates the value of such an outlet for the study of literary culture. Ivan Cañadas Hallym University Chunchon, South Korea McCarthy, Conor, ed., Love, Sex and Marriage in the Middle Ages: A Sourcebook, London, Routledge, 2004; paperback; pp. xii, 292; RRP £15.99; ISBN 0415307465. This sourcebook is designed as an introduction to the area of love, sex and marriage in the Middle Ages, and includes material that has never appeared in modern English before. The texts are drawn from a wide variety of sources, including theological, medical, legal and fictional writings. Some of the sources, for example the letters of Abelard and Heloise, are very well-known; others, such as Church legislation and the records of court proceedings, are more obscure. McCarthy’s intention is to bring together texts on love, sex and marriage (the emotional, the physical, and the social dimensions respectively) and use these texts as the basis for fruitful discussion. His introductory essay is extremely useful in orienting the reader approaching these sources for the first time. As he notes, they pose difficulties of interpretation for modern readers; for one thing, ‘sex is at once more public and more private than might nowadays seem the norm’ (p. 3). He suggests that the areas Short Notices 241 Parergon 21.1 (2004) of love and sex have been dominated respectively by the academic figures of C. S. Lewis and Michel Foucault. Lewis’ theory of ‘courtly love’ has been criticised on multiple grounds, but courtly love remains the dominant model for understanding medieval notions of romantic love. For sex, Foucault’s theorising of the gaps between modern and pre-modern categories of sexuality and sexual conduct, remain similarly dominant. For example, Aquinas, in discussing ‘unnatural’ sex ‘seems to make no essential distinction between various “unnatural” sexual acts, like masturbation, bestiality and sodomy’ (pp. 9-10). In contrast, there is no dominant model of medieval marriage, and McCarthy discusses several in passing. McCarthy also covers the medieval notion that the ideal sexual state of humans was arranged in the hierarchy of virginity, widowhood and marriage. His essay covers briefly controversial theorist John Boswell, who in 1980 argued for an acceptance of same-sex unions in the early medieval period. McCarthy wryly notes that his study of medieval period makes him conclude that ‘the moralizing texts presented below from all periods show very little tolerance for any sort of sex, and that includes heterosexual as well as homosexual sex’ (p. 12). The modern reader cannot fail to be fascinated by such cases as that of the transsexual prostitute John/Eleanor Rykener (extract 35) and much of the other material is very interesting, if not so instantly controversial. The bibliography is excellent; further reading is suggested for each extract. In conclusion, this is a very useful book for the teacher or student of medieval society. Carole M. Cusack Studies in Religion University of Sydney Mews, Constant J., Abelard and his Legacy (Variorum collected studies series, CS704), Aldershot, Ashgate, 2001; pp. xii, 330; hardback; RRP £57.50; ISBN 086078861X. Peter Abelard’s theological writings, though crucial to any intellectual history of the twelfth century, exist in various different versions and have proved notoriously difficult to date with...

Marriage and same-sex unions: a debate

This book exemplifies the high quality of thoughtful discussion and debate that is possible on the issue of same-sex marriage. Authors are paired to address and respond to a particular topic, one in favor of state recognition of same-sex relationships, and one in favor of limiting state recognition to those relationships that have been traditionally recognized as marriages. Proposals to legalize same-sex marriage evoke strong response from those on both sides of the debate. Much has been written about the legal policy issues over the legal recognition of same-sex unions in the United States, yet there has been little dialogue and exchange between participants in the debate. This book attempts to open that dialogue, and to exemplify the high quality of thoughtful discussion and debate that is possible. Authors are paired to address and respond to a particular topic, one in favor of state recognition of same-sex relationships and one in favor of limiting state recognition to those relationships that have been traditionally recognized as marriages. This ideal introduction is designed to lead the reader through the relevant issues, progressing from the general to the particular. Debates are contextualized, offering comparative, historical, and family-policy perspectives, asking fundamental questions such as what is the purpose of a family, and what interests, if any, that state has in promoting a particular type of family over others. Issues of jurisprudence and political philosophy are examined, addressing the public benefits of marriage and equal treatment before the law, among other items. The constitutionality of same-sex marriage or domestic partnership policies is explored. Finally, this book covers the broad implications when states-such as Vermont-legally recognize same-sex unions, and the impact of international recognition of same-sex marriage rights.

‘A Divergence of Views: Attitude change and the religious crisis over homosexuality’

British attitudes towards homosexuality have changed with astonishing rapidity over recent decades. Society has managed to assimilate these shifts with relative ease. The Christian churches, however, as repositories of tradition and defenders of inherited values, have been finding it increasingly difficult to adjust to the new environment. The Church of England is internally divided in the face of an external crisis: the Archbishop of Canterbury acknowledges that the global Anglican Communion could split over the issue, and the church faces similar pressures domestically. These events raise important questions about how religious institutions come to terms with modernity. The rapidity of social change, the decline in deference to authority, the increase in tolerance of anything that seems a private matter, and the sense that sexuality is fundamental to the free expression of personal identity, all make it difficult for a church to declare that sexual orientation might disqualify one from ministry or even membership. This paper analyses empirical evidence covering two decades from the British Social Attitudes and British Household Panel surveys. It is apparent that no real consensus yet exists on basic issues of sexual morality. Society as a whole is highly polarised over the question of whether same-sex unions are wrong, with significant and increasing divisions between young and old, women and men, and religious and non-religious. Far from being better placed than others to avoid disputes, Christian churches suffer from compounded problems. The attitudes of lay Christians are starkly and increasingly polarised along the dimensions of ideology and religious practice. This gulf presents a particular problem for churches with both liberal and evangelical wings, notably the Church of England.

The New Gay and Lesbian Partnership Law in Germany

This article explores the recently-enacted German registered partnerships law: An Act To End Discrimination Against Same-Sex Partnerships. The Author first considers the range of options open to a legislature wishing to recognize same-sex unions partnerships. The author then critically and thoroughly analyzes the legislation: he gives a brief history of the political developments leading to the legislation and the important effect of these developments on shaping the Act as it came into force on 1 August 2001; provides timely legal commentary on controversial provisions and omissions of the Act; and contrasts the legislation with Alberta's Adult Interdependent Relationships Act The various constitutional challenges to the Act, and the German Federal Constitutional Court's response to these arguments are explored, with some discussion of the possible implication of the German issues to the Canadian situation.

Marriage and Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Unions

Marriage and Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Unions

Religion, Politics, and Abortion

This essay - which was the basis of my Philip J.McElroy Lecture at the University of Detroit Mercy in April 2001 - is the final installment in a series of five essays on the proper role of religiously grounded morality in the politics and law of the United States. The contemporary American debate about religion in politics is partly animated and shaped by two large controversies that are at once both moral and in character: the controversies over same-sex unions and abortion. Addressing the issue of religion in politics without addressing those two controversies would be like staging Hamlet without the prince. In two other essays in the series of which this essay is a part, I focus on the controversy over same-sex unions. In this essay, speaking in particular to religious believers who hold (as I do) that reliance on religiously grounded morality is neither illegitimate in a liberal democracy nor unconstitutional in the United States, I turn to the moral/political controversy that, in the last generation, has been the most difficult and divisive of all: abortion. To an even greater extent than the controversy over same-sex unions, the abortion controversy looms large in the background of the debate about the proper role of religion in the politics of the United States. More than any other American controversy in the second half of the twentieth century, the abortion controversy has been a principal, if sometimes unspoken, occasion of the debate about religion in politics. My overarching aim, in this essay, is to address the abortion controversy in a way that is true to each of two propositions. I defend the first proposition in two other essays in the series of which this essay is a part: A citizen's religious faith has a legitimate, important role to play in her politics. The second proposition is at least as well illustrated by the moral/political controversy over abortion as by any other: In the words of Reinhold Niebuhr, political issues deal with complex problems of justice, every solution for which contains morally ambiguous elements.

Homosexuality

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Letter to the EditorFull AccessHomosexualityMary Barber, M.D.Mary BarberSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:20 Jul 2001https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.36.14.0022aI must respectfully but strongly disagree with Dr. David Dawes’s views regarding APA’s taking a position on same-sex unions, as expressed in his letter in the June 15 issue.For better or worse, social, legal, and political issues often intersect with psychiatry and mental health issues, and the APA Trustees are correct in recognizing this. Lack of legal recognition for same-sex unions can have enormous implications for the psychological stability and well-being of a family, affecting the mental health of the adults involved and also of their children. Where issues such as child custody and property rights are involved, the absence of legal rights for these families can actually lead to loss of home or loss of parental rights, with the potential psychiatric sequelae such traumas entail.The comparison Dr. Dawes makes between APA’s supporting legal status for same-sex unions and APA’s supporting a particular religious belief is a bizarre one. Far from a matter of faith, APA’s statement on legal recognition of same-sex unions is a well-researched position with high relevance to the lives of our patients, both adults and children. As a fellow dues-paying APA member, I am glad that the Trustees have not shied away from addressing this important issue.Kingston, N.Y. ISSUES NewArchived

The Relationship of Bodies: A Nuptial Hermeneutics of Same-Sex Unions

(1998). The Relationship of Bodies: A Nuptial Hermeneutics of Same-Sex Unions. Theology & Sexuality: Vol. 1998, No. 8, pp. 96-112.

Legally wed: same-sex marriage and the Constitution

In a new preface, Mark Strasser discusses recent developments in the legal battle over same-sex marriages in Hawaii. He anticipates the likely state and nationwide impact of the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision. Mark Strasser examines the issue of same-sex marriage in light of contemporary constitutional and domestic relations law, showing why the usual arguments against recognizing such unions are either weak or irrelevant. The Supreme Court has articulated numerous interests promoted by marriage, all of which apply to same-sex as well as opposite-sex couples. According to Strasser, the argument made most frequently to deny recognition to same-sex unions-that marriage exists to provide a setting for the production and raising of children-is in fact a reason to acknowledge such unions. The claim that marriage is for children biologically related to both parents is refuted in the case law, which treats biological and adopted children as legally indistinguishable. Strasser explains Baehr v. Lewin, the precedent setting case in Hawaii, and addresses the implications of state-by-state decisions to ban or recognize same-sex unions. He analyzes what it would mean to say that a policy violates the Equal Protection or Due Process Clauses of the Constitution, and compares biased polices that target gays and lesbians with those that victimize racial minorities. Strasser argues that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is both unconstitutional and a public policy disaster. It does not give states additional rights with respect to which marriages they need not recognize, Strasser explains, but only with respect which divorces they need not recognize. For example, DOMA seems to allow an individual to avoid a court-imposed duty to support an ex-spouse of the same sex simply by changing his or her domicile. Moreover, Strasser argues, DOMA is an open invitation for states to demand exceptions that will wreak havoc in domestic relations law. In a recent response to conservative arguments about marriage, Legally Wed explicates established and involving legal principles, and shows how invidiously these have been applied to the issues of gay rights in general and same-sex unions in particular.

To Ask A Better Question

Reclaiming the center of faith involves taking a critical look at both sides of the debate over same-sex unions and the ordination of homosexuals. The time has come to move beyond the nature-nurture debate and address the larger question of how Christians can rise above the sexual chaos of our age through sexual discipline and protection of the vulnerable.

Ritual Brotherhood in Byzantium

Kinship networks and social hierarchies provide an important key to the Byzantine Empire's tenacious survival over the course of more than a millennium. This study concentrates on one such social networking strategy, that of ritual brotherhood. No investigation of ritual brotherhood can overlook the Byzantine evidence, for Byzantium is unique among medieval societies in having formally incorporated into its ecclesiastical ritual the ceremony by which the priest's prayers and blessing make ‘brothers’ of two men. Further, the history of the empire provides ample evidence for the concrete implementation of this bond. Hagiographical and historical narratives as well as regulations of secular and ecclesiastical authorities attest to the importance of ritual brotherhood as it was practiced by holy men and patriarchs, aristocrats and emperors. The Byzantine evidence is, unsurprisingly, at the core of John Boswell's argument in his Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe,' Boswell drew attention to this interesting and multi-faceted relationship, but he did not explore the full range of sources for ritual brotherhood, nor did he attempt to show how this relationship related to others within Byzantine society.

Ya'll Cain't Do That Here: Will Texas Recognize Same-Sex Marriages Validly Contracted in Other States?

This comment examines the current mechanism for analyzing the issue of whether same-sex marriages celebrated in another jurisdiction will be recognized in Texas and suggests several areas the Texas Legislature should review to give certainty and consistency to any such decision. Part I reviews the Hawaiian case of Baehr v. Lewin and other cases challenging opposite-sex marriage statutes, and outlines the public policy reasons historically offered to avoid recognizing same-sex unions. Part II examines the Texas choice-of-law doctrine as it relates to validity of marriages contracted in other states, and discusses Texas public policy regarding same-sex unions and whether Texas state law mandates recognition of a same-sex marriage validly contracted in another state if the couple is domiciled in Texas. Last, Part III briefly reviews the Full Faith and Credit Clause and the Due Process Clause of the federal Constitution, and discusses whether these principles should compel Texas to recognize same-sex marriages legally contracted in Hawaii or another jurisdiction.