The impact of same-sex marriages on the institution of marriage

Discuss about the Qualitative Research Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology.

The issue of legalization of same-sex marriages has been a concern for so many people in the modern society among both the gays and the straight. Different people have diverse perspective on this topic and it has raised a debate on this issue with both sides viewing the institution of marriage differently (Henwood, 2014). Some states in the United States of America such as California had recognized same-sex marriages in the society. Voters in California voted on Proposition 8 on the 4^Th of November 2008 and this overturned the same-sex marriage that had been accepted in that State. Before the legalization of same-sex marriages had not been overturned there was a very hot debate concerning what were the implications of this law on Californian couples and the impact of same-sex marriage on the institution of marriage. Gay relationships and specific gay marriage have been a political social thought since the passage of DOMA in 1996 and the I993 Baehr v. Lewin decision in Hawaii. This essay is a debate about the legalization based on the Queer Theory and focusing on use focus on heteronormativity and heterosexuality. This debate is a discussion of the various perspectives on the legalization of the same-sex marriages as an area of concern in social work.

After the passage of Proposition 8 in California, same-sex marriage was banned in this state. This was a big blow to the LGBT movement and this triggered them to divert their resources and attention to the federal and state campaign for marriage equality. This has led to a debate by queer theorists and queer activists (Few?Demo et al, 2016). They are concerned in the issue of whether or not the LGBT movement should focus a lot of its resources and efforts on an objective or goal then it is believed to be impossible by the moderates while radicals consider it to be out of step with the “radical agenda” of gay liberationists and queer theorists. “Although marriage equality has been advocated by national LGBT organizations for well over a decade, there is a difference between supporting the principle of marriage equality and actually choosing to be married,” noted Taylor.  Same-sex activities believe that same-sex marriage was a complete political impossibility at some point of time in the society especially during the era where LGBT individuals could not even openly declare their sexual orientation.

Debate within the LGBT movement on the focus on same-sex marriage

Queer activities believe that the legalization of same-sex marriages will give LGBT families and couples the encouragement to imitate the male-dominance structured heterosexual marriages and families (Coates, 2018). Legalizing same-sex marriages will increase the number of same-sex marriages in the society and this will pose a major threat to queer theorists since it can end the distinctive queer society and identity. However, advocates for same-sex marriages argue that these predictions have not been realized in the few places where same-sex marriages have been legalized.

The main reason why the debate on same-sex marriages is appealing is that legalization of the same-sex marriages will guarantee lesbians and gays a shortcut to enjoy social and legal benefits associated with the legalization (Gallop, 2015). However, my main concern is that the struggle and efforts to legalize same-sex marriage may be shortsighted.  Considering the part of progressive thinkers, there is lack of a clear outline of the privileges bestowed on marriage.

According to conservatives, it is clear that marriage should be rewarded. The number of people marrying in the US has drastically reduced by roughly 50% since the early 1960’s. On the other hand, the numbers of marriages that have ended due to divorce have increased by roughly 50 %. Continuous transformation in our society, the increase in the acceptability and effectiveness of contraception methods, the increasing financial independence of women among many other factors can be associated to the rapid increase in divorce and decline in the number of marriages. Other factors that could possibly be the reason this emerging trend in marriages includes the obedience to authority, individual choice, pleasure as well as personal freedom. Conservatives have shown their concerns about this emerging trend in marriages and they believe that making marriages to be privileged is going to increase the importance of the marriage institution. They suggest that marriage is worthy of reward since heterosexual marriage is healthy for both women and men and allows an optimum development environment for children. They base their suggestion on the fact that research done across the United States shows that married couples are more psychologically and physically better off compared to single people. Also, the children living with married couples are more emotionally and physically better off compared to those living with divorced parents or singles. However, a critical and comprehensive of such research does not clearly prove that marriages make people or children better off (McNicholas, Smith and Tyler, 2017). There are other external factors such as the discord experience by divorced families, the parental stress and the higher rates of poverty.

The perspective of Queer Theory on the legalization of same-sex marriages

The other argument raised by conservatives is that marriage act as a tool to tame and contain the sexual behavior and urges of people and this helps in taming and creating a civilized society. The society should put mechanisms in place to provide punishment for noncompliance as well as incentives for compliance so as to successfully limit the sexual behaviors in heterosexual marriages (Winter, Forest and Sénac, 2018). Historically, both Christianity and federal and state government has tried to limit sexuality activities that are not procreative both within marriages and outside marriage. Initially, a state government had the authority to prevent married couples from using contraceptives but this changed in 1965 after the decision made in Griswold v. Connecticut. However, conservative Christians in the society still condemn all forms of non-procreative sexual activities even within marriages.

Just like conservatives, the advocates of same-sex marriage have always stressed on the prospective psychological and physical benefits of legal same-sex marriage to lesbians and gays. The argument that is mostly repeated in this debate of legalizing same-sex marriage is that the advocates insist that lesbians and gays deserve to access same privileges and rights that the married heterosexuals have been provided with. However, the advocates have not come out to say whether the privileging they are fighting for is legitimate or fair. In the early days of the fight for gay rights, the activists were against the restrictive norms of marriage, however, this fight is losing dominance in media coverage. For the people who care for personal freedom and social justice should be concerned by the debate of legalizing same-sex marriages.

The general and most common perception of marriage is a union between a man and a woman with intimate relations (Gates, 2015). Arguments have been raised that the definition of marriage is discriminatory in the sense that marriage is meant for people who are not related, they need to be adults and the two must be exclusive to each other in the relationship. Therefore we can realize that the institution of marriage is discriminatory towards underage, polygamy and incest. Same-sex activities have come out to argue that the institution of marriage in the society is not really clearly defined as it neglects other sexual orientations such as the LGBT individuals. The activities suggest that people should not blindly accept traditional definitions but they should embrace personal freedom and sexual orientation is one of the personal freedoms.

Advocates and opponents of same-sex marriages: insights into their perspectives

On the basis of queer theory, the social control is maintained through imposing the norm of heterosexual monogamous marriage and condemning the individuals who do not adhere to this norm. This is a perspective that is unanimously agreed upon by the religion, political leaders, the medical sector and queer theorists. As opposed to the conservatives who think the marriage privileges are intended to benefit children and preserve families, queer theorists believe that the main reason for privileging marriage is to legitimize and reward particular sexual behaviors and relationships and stigmatize and marginalize other behaviors and relationships. Therefore the process of marginalizing and penalizing an individual who does not comply to the sexual norms in the case the lesbians and gays by limiting their access to certain privileges and rights such as enjoying affordable healthcare as the heterosexual married people is one way of maintaining an oppressive social control.

The question that arises is that, are those who cannot find a partner or who choose not to limit their sexual behavior or relationships to marriage less worthy of affordable health care than those who are married? There is an argument that the current system in the society is a caste system of married individuals against single and LGBT individuals. The singles and LGBT people in the society are denied certain privileges such as health care insurance as well as forced to suffer stigma and marginalization in a culture that is mainly family oriented. Legalizing same-sex marriage will potentially replicate and perpetuate the inequalities lesbians and gays are experiencing in the society.

Almost everybody wants to marry and should be able to marry if they wish to. Therefore the lesbians and gay people argue that they should also be allowed to marry. People who care about personal freedom and social justice should be able to recognize the unfairness that the existing institution of marriage rather than blindly adopt and accept the sexual and relationship norms that have been established in the society. The lesbians and gays argue that sexuality can be expressed in various forms and that it is not fair to just select one form of sexual expression and reward it while frustrating all the other existing forms. Every individual should be entitled to social security benefits and affordable health care program among other privileges and rights regardless of whether they are single, married, partnered, and gay or lesbians. Therefore apart from the right to marry, there are other reasons or arguments that should make psychologists and other individuals who are concerned with social justice should use as their basis to support the legalization of same-sex marriages.

The discriminatory nature of the institution of marriage

In order to understand the potential impact of legalizing same-sex marriage, we have to have a keen analysis of places where same-sex marriages have existed for sometimes. Canada is one of such places in the world where same-sex marriage was legalized long ago and we can use it to assess this legalization. Adam Isaiah who is a sociology professor at the University of Toronto did an analysis of Canada in relation to same-sex marriages and came up with a report. He reported that same-sex marriages tend to be more equal with the decision-making process, control of finances, the division of household labor and negotiations of sexual fidelity is negotiated between spouses. This is in contrast to heterosexual marriages where sexual fidelity is mainly based on the traditional sexual characteristic norms of matrimonial monogamy.

Same-sex marriages seem to encourage relationships that imitate the conventional marriages but they demonstrate significant differences from the heterosexual marriages that are mostly male-dominated. The traditionally established sexual norms of heterosexual marriages have been repugnant not only to the LGBT activists but also the queer activists. Some individuals have argued that same-sex marriages are most beneficial to the two individuals participating in it (that is the LGBT couple) but legalizing this marriage will deprive the children the opportunity to be raised by a biological father and a mother as the case with heterosexual marriages (Ghaziani, Taylor, and Stone, 2016). Heterosexual families are considered as a normal unit where children are to be born and raised since this marriage relationship provides a biological father and mother, stability and nurtures family love. There are so many benefits associated with biological parenting found in heterosexual marriages and therefore legalizing the same-sex marriages will deprive some children these benefits. However, some same-sex marriages are challenging this traditional belief in the instance where some gay parents have demonstrated very good parenting to their adopted children. In most of the countries which allow same-sex marriages the couples are also legalized to adopt children or use the surrogacy and IVF treatment techniques.

There is speculation that legalizing same-sex marriages will change the basic fabric of the society.  The heterosexual marriage results into biological children forming the family which is the basic unit in the society. The heterosexual family is where children are natured and raised by their biological parents and legalizing same-sex marriages will destroy this well-established fabric of our society. However, same-sex activists have come out to oppose this social structure and argue that just because the same-sex marriages are not common or traditional does not imply that they are wrong. They also claim that the so-called fabric of the society is nowhere close to perfect with the increasing cases of divorces and other challenges associated with the family.

In queer theory, heterosexuality concerns have been explored by researchers and scholars to help shade more insight on sexual categories, cross sexualities and same-sex marriages. The queer theorists and activities have greatly contributed to the debate on legalizing same-sex marriages and homosexuality laws. The activists have based their focus on the privileges and benefit that heterosexual couples enjoy in marriage in relation to same-sex marriage.

Conclusion

Different people have diverse perspective on the legalization of same-sex marriages and it has raised a debate over this issue with both sides viewing the institution of marriage differently. Queer theory can be used to explain the difference in perspective between LGBT individuals and heterosexuals in the modern society. On the basis of queer theory, the social control is maintained through imposing the norm of heterosexual monogamous marriage and condemning the individuals who do not adhere to this norm. This is a perspective that is unanimously agreed upon by the religion, political leaders, the medical sector and queer theorists. As opposed to the conservatives who think the marriage privileges are intended to benefit children and preserve families, queer theorists believe that the main reason for privileging marriage is to legitimize and reward particular sexual behaviors and relationships and stigmatize and marginalize other behaviors and relationships. There are opposing perspectives on the topic of legalization of same-sex marriages and this should be a concern for individuals who are concerned with social justice and personal freedom.

References

Coates, K., 2018. Queer Theory: The French Response by Bruno Perreau. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, 5(1), pp.155-157.

Few?Demo, A.L., Humble, A.M., Curran, M.A. and Lloyd, S.A., 2016. Queer Theory, Intersectionality, and LGBT?Parent Families: Transformative Critical Pedagogy in Family Theory. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 8(1), pp.74-94.

Gallop, J., 2015. The View from Queer Theory. AgeCultureHumanities: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2.

Gates, G.J., 2015. Marriage and family: LGBT individuals and same-sex couples. The Future of Children, 25(2), pp.67-87.

Ghaziani, A., Taylor, V. and Stone, A., 2016. Cycles of sameness and difference in LGBT social movements. Annual Review of Sociology, 42, pp.165-183.

Henwood, K., 2014. Qualitative research. Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology, pp.1611-1614.

McNicholas Smith, K. and Tyler, I., 2017. Lesbian brides: post-queer in popular culture. Feminist Media Studies, 17(3), pp.315-331.

Winter, B., Forest, M. and Sénac, R., 2018. Introduction. In Global Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage (pp. 1-18). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.