The Rainbow after the Storm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Gay Couples ◽  
Gays And Lesbians ◽  
The U.S

The Rainbow after the Storm tells the story of the rapid liberalization of attitudes toward gay rights that made same-sex marriage the law of the U.S. sooner than almost anyone thought was possible. The book explains how and why public opinion toward gay rights liberalized so much, while most other public attitudes have remained relatively stable. The book explores the roles of a variety of actors in this drama. Social science research helped to shift elite opinion in ways that reduced the persecution of gays and lesbians. Gays and lesbians by the hundreds of thousands responded to a less repressive environment by coming out of the closet. Straight people started to know the gay and lesbian people in their lives, and their view of gay rights shifted accordingly. Same-sex couples embarked on years-long legal struggles to try to force states to recognize their marriages. In courtrooms across the U.S. social scientists behind a new consensus about the normalcy of gay couples and the health of their children won victories over fringe scholars promoting discredited antigay views. In a few short years marriage equality, which had once seemed totally unrealistic, became realistic. And then almost as soon as it was realistic, marriage equality became a reality.

The Early 2000s

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-144
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
Court Decision ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
State Laws ◽  
State Supreme Court ◽  
The U.S

Chapter 9 tells the story of Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court decision that finally struck down the remaining state laws that criminalized sodomy. In 2004 Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to have marriage equality, following the state supreme court decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. Opponents of gay rights fought furiously to overturn marriage equality in Massachusetts, but once straight people saw that marriage equality cost them nothing, the opposition faded away. Gay rights groups in Massachusetts prevailed despite having many institutional disadvantages. In California in 2008, Proposition 8 was passed by voters to reintroduce a same-sex marriage ban.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Attitude ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
National Movements ◽  
Attitudes Toward Marriage ◽  
Key Events ◽  
The U.S

Chapter 1 presents an overview of how the movement for marriage equality was victorious in the U.S. and why public attitudes toward marriage equality changed more than any other public attitude in American history. The chapter offers a brief explanation of the role of individuals coming out of the closet and an explanation for why national movements need to be studied with national survey data as opposed to focusing only on movement leaders. A time line of key events considers the background of public opinion support for gay rights in order to identify when attitudes began to change and which events were proximate to the change in attitudes.

The Courts Begin to Appreciate Gay Rights: Romer and Baehr, 1996

2021 ◽  
pp. 86-101
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
State Court ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
First Time ◽  
The U.S

Chapter 6 describes two important breakthroughs in the courts for gay rights. In 1996 the U.S. Supreme Court decided Romer v. Evans in favor of gay plaintiffs from Colorado who had had their rights reduced by a voter referendum. The Supreme Court upheld state court rulings which had overturned the referendum. The Romer decision, written by Anthony Kennedy, was the first Supreme Court decision to affirmatively defend the rights of gay people. In the fall of 1996 in Hawaii a same-sex marriage trial, Baehr v. Miike, showed for the first time that the opponents of marriage equality had no scientific or empirical basis for preventing same-sex marriages from being recognized. The marriage plaintiffs won in court, but the voters of Hawaii reinstated the same-sex marriage ban. Hawaii did not become a marriage equality state until 2013.

Coming Out of the Closet and Its Influence, 1985–2013

2021 ◽  
pp. 102-114
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Family Member ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Social Science Data ◽  
Gays And Lesbians ◽  
First Time ◽  
The U.S

Chapter 7 provides a variety of social science data analysis to show that contact between gays and lesbians and their straight family and friends was responsible for the dramatic liberalization of attitudes toward gay rights in the U.S. When Americans were asked why they became more supportive of marriage equality, they overwhelmingly explained that having a gay friend or family member helped them see the issue more positively. Having a gay friend was influential even to people who were not predisposed to support gay rights. Data show that gays and lesbians in the U.S. were coming out of the closet for the first time in the 1990s, and the 1990s is also when American attitudes toward gay rights started to liberalize.

Rights for Same-Sex Couples and Public Attitudes Toward Gays and Lesbians in Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 868-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarik Abou-Chadi ◽  
Ryan Finnigan
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Target Population ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Attitudes Toward Homosexuality ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
Gays And Lesbians ◽  
Positive Effect

This article investigates how changes in same-sex rights affect attitudes toward homosexuality. We argue that different same-sex relationship policies vary in their impact. Whereas registered partnership laws construct a distinct target population that receives new benefits, marriage equality sends an unambiguously positive signal and reduces the perceived group difference through inclusion into existing rights. As a consequence, marriage equality should have a positive effect on attitudes toward homosexuality, whereas partnership laws should have much less positive effects and could even lead to backlash among some groups. Combining data from eight waves of the European Social Survey with data on legislation, we analyze the effects of same-sex marriage, registered partnerships, and marriage bans on attitudes toward gays and lesbians. Marriage has a positive effect, bans and registered partnerships have a negative effect. Legalized partnership is especially associated with significantly more negative attitudes among nonreligious and less educated people.

Afterword

2021 ◽  
pp. 244-248
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Many ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The Way

Gay rights and marriage equality have advanced so far in the U.S. in the past decade that it would be all too easy to assume that the struggle is over. The opponents of gay rights, however, remain powerful. Readers can take inspiration from how dramatically attitudes toward gay rights have liberalized in the past two decades and how transformative the liberalization of attitudes has been. We live in a world where political lies often seem to have the upper hand. It is worth remembering that despite the many short term advantages that lies can yield in politics, the truth has some long term advantages as well. The way the marriage equality movement prevailed should be a lesson to anyone who wants to make progressive social change.

Atrocity stories and triumph stories

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Policy Impact ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Gay Couples ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Civil Partnership ◽  
The Uk

This paper investigates conflicting narratives available to lesbian and gay couples as a result of marriage and civil partnership. Whereas marginalisation may have made stories of exclusion particularly resonant for same-sex couples, marriage and civil partnership offer scope for new stories around inclusion and equality. Drawing on empirical research with married and civil partner same-sex couples in the UK, US and Canada, the paper contrasts couples’ atrocity stories with new stories about acceptance and inclusion. The paper argues that these new stories should be seen as triumph stories that point towards a tangible impact arising from marriage equality and civil partnership. However, the presence of atrocity stories alongside these triumph stories provides evidence of a more limited policy impact. In conclusion, the paper highlights the relevance of atrocity stories in an emerging area of public policy, as well as the likelihood of triumph stories being relevant in other contexts.

scholarly journals Living Apart Together as a “Family Form” Among Persons of Retirement Age: The Appropriate Family Response

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Grant Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Older Persons ◽  
Family Law ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Reasons For Living ◽  
Living Apart Together ◽  
Committed Couples ◽  
The U.S

52 Family Law Quarterly 1 (2018).This article discusses the phenomenon of “living apart together,” or LAT, among persons of retirement age. LATs are committed couples who maintain separate residences. The article first explores the literature on sexuality and dating among older persons and then discusses social science research done, primarily outside of the U.S., about LAT among persons in older age groups. It then describes what was learned from the author’s own interviews of LATs over the age of 65 about their reasons for living apart, their manner of life, economic arrangements, and mutual caregiving. Based on this research, it reaches a number of conclusions about what the appropriate legal treatment of these couples should be.

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