ok, so this particular blog entry might create some controversy, but the notion was just too interesting not to share.

I am currently taking a summer course entitled: Queer Theory, Policy, and Practice at the University of Illinois. I took the class to fulfill a major requirement, but honestly it has been one of the most exciting classes I have taken while in college.

This past week our discussion has centered on gay marriage- and the conversation has gotten rather heated. The central point of contention is whether the use of gay marriage as a rallying point for gay liberation is a positive thing, or if this rallying point actually negates the entire notion of queer liberation.

While aknowledging that marriage provides not only spiritual but also financial and political advantages, the authors we covered questioned the focus of gay marriage, noting that most gay marriage campaigns merely are "queering" the notion of a nuclear family- with two parents, a couple kids, and a dog.

In doing this, activists are not acknowledging the unique love of queer individuals, but instead trying to shove said individuals into a cookie cutter family mold. They are in essence giving credence to the nuclear family advocated by conservatives and leaving out any queer individuals that may long for equal rights but who see marriage as a confining, poltically sustained institution.

The authors question exactly what these activists are fighting for? Do they want marriage or do they simply want equal rights? If the focus is rights- it may be harmful to the queer liberation movement as a whole to focus on an institution that constains and narrowly defines love.

Instead- the authors question why marriage has to be the ultimate expression of love and commitment. Queer theorists have challenged the idea of sex and gender- why should activists play in the conservative's backyard on the issue of marriage?

Instead of focusing on legalizing gay marriage, should activists be instead focusing on why the institution of marriage is used to legitimize love?

I welcome all thoughts, I am definitely not an expert. Here are the essays we covered- I would provide links but unless you are a U of I student you wouldn't be able to access them.

Save our Children/Let us Marry: Gay Activists Appropriate the Rhetoric of Child Protection
by Patrick McCreery

Sex and Tourism: The Economic Implications of the Gay Marriage Movement by Nan Alamilla Boyd

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040315/duggan

Much Love

Beverly