Legal Struggles and Political Resistance: Same-Sex Marriage in Canada and the USA

Abstract

This article explores the nature of legal struggles surrounding same-sex marriage in the USA and Canada, focusing specifically on the ways in which the cultural power of law is used to frame claims of injustice and to develop strategies of political resistance. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from the literatures on 'law and social movements' and 'legal consciousness', the article compares the claims-making discourse and strategies of same-sex couples seeking access to legal civil marriage in the USA and Canada. Based in part on interviews with same-sex couples, lawyers and political activists, the article demonstrates the ways in which the claims of law have been used to frame political strategies in places where same-sex marriage is 'illegal', the ways in which claims of legal equality are enacted, produced and explained by same-sex couples, and the ways in which equality discourse is deployed as a strategic political resource in the struggle over same-sex marriage.