[精品]Same-Sex Marriage and its Alternatives Prof. Kim Surkan.pdf

– Sexual and Gender Identities
Final Project

Same-Sex Marriage and its Alternatives

The fight for gay marriage is one of the most hotly debated topics in current
politics. Throughout the numerous debates and the numerous sides one may take, an
interesting and highly theoretical debate exists between radical liberals who want to
replace the oppressive marriage system with a better alternative and less radical liberals
who are in favor of gay marriage but see alternatives to marriage as unequal. To radical
liberals, gay marriage is a step in the wrong direction because it enforces the status quo of
marriage, and the system should instead be revamped entirely. Mainstream liberals see
that the alternatives to marriage that exist do not currently give equal rights to gay and
lesbian couples, and see same-sex marriage as the path to equality. We can draw parallels
to these view points by looking at the ideals of the homophile movement, which correlate
to the fight for gay marriage, and by looking at the ideals of the historical gay liberation
movement, which correlate to the fight for alternatives to marriage. The radical fight for
creating an alternative to marriage that includes benefits for non-standard households is
appealing, but is it realistic? Though there has yet to be a country to strike down the
marriage pletely, both gay marriage and alternatives already exist in both the
United States and abroad. By investigating such models, one is better able to determine
what has been and will be essful. After examining the systems already in place, a
poll of the MIT population along with information from national polls, can be used to
determine what changes to the marriage system could be realistic.
1
The History of Gay Activism: The Homophile Movement and Gay Liberation
Before one can fully understand the arguments about gay marriage and its
alternatives, one must first understand the history of