Balancing Interests

The political terrain surrounding the legalization of same-sex marriage and the need to accommodate individuals' faith-based objections have been part of public discourse since the passage of initial marriage equality statutes. These exemptions played an essential element in the bills' passages and have mainly gone unquestioned from proponents of marriage equality. But for many of the supporters of these religious exemptions, they did not go far enough to protect business owners or government officials who objected on religious grounds. This chapter discusses the resulting tension between religious freedom and marriage equality.

Freedom of Religion and Marriage Equality

This chapter seeks to explain, as a descriptive matter, when, how, and why issues of religious freedom became part of the marriage equality debates. Using a historical context, the principle of religious freedom is examined, providing a provocative analysis of religious liberty cases and the ongoing role courts have played in this debate after the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States through the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision. A legal analysis is provided for Supreme Court cases.

Who’s Afraid of Divorce? Sexual Minority Young Adults’ Perspectives on Divorce

Research suggests that young adults commonly approve of divorce but still feel anxious about the possibility of divorcing themselves due to anticipated emotional and financial repercussions. However, the existing research focuses exclusively on heterosexual young adults, which is a significant oversight given the recent legalization of same-sex marriage. As such, we rely primarily on qualitative data from an online survey of unmarried sexual minority young adults (n = 257) to examine how they think about divorce. Our results suggest that sexual minority young adults have somewhat distinct perspectives compared to heterosexual young adults. In particular, they anticipate being quite willing to divorce under a broad set of circumstances, and they report minimal anxieties regarding the prospect of divorce. Given documented associations between attitudes toward divorce in young adulthood and subsequent relational behavior (e.g., cohabitation, marital delay), we conclude by discussing what our results suggest about sexual minority young adults’ relationships in the era of marriage equality.

A Critique of Marriage Within China Through The Lens of Feminism

<p>Within the traditional patriarchal ideology in China, feminism is gradually being accepted by the Chinese, especially Chinese women, and has brought benefits to women’s liberation today. However, inequality between men and women still exists. There is growing popularity among Chinese women artists to use their artistic status as their weapon to actively and effectively communicate the ideologies of feminism. However, their expression of feminism still mostly manifests through traditional artistic mediums. My research focuses on how wearable technology can depict and criticize gender inequality in Chinese marriage, and promote feminism. The garment design development is based on the results of a study I conducted about the perception of marriage equality in China, which revealed several areas of inequality in marriage. The final garment is designed for presentation, where movement and audience interaction are considered to enhance the opportunities of wearable technology to best communicate aspects of marriage inequality in China. My design research realises how ideologies of feminism, specifically marriage equality in China, might be advocated for through the design of contemporary garments and wearable technology.</p>

A Critique of Marriage Within China Through The Lens of Feminism

<p>Within the traditional patriarchal ideology in China, feminism is gradually being accepted by the Chinese, especially Chinese women, and has brought benefits to women’s liberation today. However, inequality between men and women still exists. There is growing popularity among Chinese women artists to use their artistic status as their weapon to actively and effectively communicate the ideologies of feminism. However, their expression of feminism still mostly manifests through traditional artistic mediums. My research focuses on how wearable technology can depict and criticize gender inequality in Chinese marriage, and promote feminism. The garment design development is based on the results of a study I conducted about the perception of marriage equality in China, which revealed several areas of inequality in marriage. The final garment is designed for presentation, where movement and audience interaction are considered to enhance the opportunities of wearable technology to best communicate aspects of marriage inequality in China. My design research realises how ideologies of feminism, specifically marriage equality in China, might be advocated for through the design of contemporary garments and wearable technology.</p>

The Early 2000s

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.

Afterword

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.