Queering Marriage: Challenging Family Formation in the United States

213 Pages·2013·2.743 MB·English

by  Katrina Kimport

Queering Marriage
Q
Families in Focus
Series Editors
Anita Ilta Garey, University of Connecticut
Naomi R. Gerstel, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Karen V. Hansen, Brandeis University
Rosanna Hertz, Wellesley College
Margaret K. Nelson, Middlebury College
Katie L. Acosta, Amigas y Amantes: Sexually Nonconforming Latinas Negoti-
ate Family
Anita Ilta Garey and Karen V. Hansen, eds., At the Heart of Work and Family:
Engaging the Ideas of Arlie Hochschild
Mary Ann Mason, Nicholas H. Wolfinger, and Marc Goulden, Do Babies
Matter? Gender and Family in the Ivory Tower
Jamie L. Mullaney and Janet Hinson Shope, Paid to Party: Working Time and
Emotion in Direct Home Sales
Markella B. Rutherford, Adult Supervision Required: Private Freedom and
Public Constraints for Parents and Children
Barbara Wells, Daughters and Granddaughters of Farmworkers: Emerging
from the Long Shadow of Farm Labor
Queering Marriage
Q
Challenging Family Formation
in the United States
Katrina Kimport
rutgers university press
new brunswick, new jersey, and london
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kimport, Katrina, 1978–
Queering marriage : challenging family formation in the United States /
Katrina Kimport.
pages cm.—(Families in focus)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0-8135–6222–3 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBN 978–0-8135–
6221–6 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978–0-8135–6223–0 (e-book)
1. Same-sex marriage—California—San Francisco. 2. Same-sex marriage—
United States. 3. Gay rights—California—San Francisco. 4. Gay rights—United
States. I. Title.
HQ1034.U5K56 2014
306.84'80973—dc23 2013010364
A British Cataloging-i n- Publication record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Copyright © 2014 by Katrina Kimport
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers Univer-
sity Press, 106 Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. The only exception to
this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law.
Visit our website: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu
Manufactured in the United States of America
C o N T E N T S
Acknowledgments vii
1 The Winter of Love 1
2 Marrying for the Movement 20
3 Marrying for Rights 43
4 Marrying for Love 65
5 Gender and Parenthood 82
6 The Persistent Power of Marriage 104
7 Exposing Heteronormativity 130
8 Conclusion 150
Methodological Appendix 161
Notes 171
References 175
Index 187

A C K N o W L E D G M E N T S
Without the insight, guidance, and encouragement of my mentors at
the University of California, Santa Barbara, I could not have turned a
burgeoning sociological interest in the San Francisco same-s ex wed-
dings into the book you now hold. I thank Verta Taylor for her unwav-
ering support of me and of this project. She was irreplaceable as an
editor—a nd as a cheerleader—a nd I benefited enormously from her
generous feedback. More than anyone else, Jennifer Earl made me the
scholar I am today. I admire and learned from her impressive work
ethic, integrity, humor, and commitment to mentoring, and even
from her occasionally frustrating refusal to accept thanks for what she
understands to be simply doing her job as a mentor. I thank Leila J.
Rupp for her insightful analysis of my work, for the questions that
helped me clarify my argument, and for her commitment to my schol-
arship. I also thank her for her behind-t he- scenes consultations with
Verta about this project, especially when they impinged on precious
vacation time. Barbara Tomlinson modeled the thinking life, and I
learned a great deal from her intentionality and the care she took in her
thinking and writing. More than a few times, BT was able to articulate
what didn’t work in a piece, such that I not only knew how to fix it, but
was motivated to do so. It is a rare talent to be able to inspire cheerful-
ness in the face of a major revision. BT was also a supportive presence
for the inevitable, discouraging moments I faced during this project,
helping me identify what, for my purposes, did and did not matter.
I thank my Rutgers editor, Peter Mickulas, for his enthusiastic com-
mitment to this project and the academic editors of the Families in
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Focus series, particularly Peggy Nelson and Rosanna Hertz, for their
thoughtful reviews of earlier drafts. I am also much indebted to Jaye
Cee Whitehead for her review of the initial manuscript. I drew heav-
ily on her constructive critique in the final phases of completing this
book. Her review represents the best of the peer review process that
makes academic inquiry a collective endeavor.
Finally, this work would not have been possible without the phe-
nomenal support of my colleagues in the Advancing New Standards
in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program of the Bixby Center for
Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Fran-
cisco. I am especially indebted to Tracy Weitz and Lori Freedman, who
both offered encouragement, feedback, and steadfast belief in this
project. It is a rare privilege to work with such a talented and com-
mitted group of scholars. I owe a debt of gratitude to all of my fellow
ANSIRHites for making it such a wonderful place to work.
Throughout this project and my academic career broadly, my
family— both immediate and extended, blood and chosen—h as pro-
vided diversions, laughter, perspective, and love. I cannot thank them
enough, especially David, Barbara, Rebecca, and Susie Kimport, Bob
and the late Helen Buggert, and Richard Buggert. Last, my love and
appreciation to Matthew Villeneuve and our daughter, Mathilde, for
the joy they bring to my life.
Queering Marriage
Q