Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

Annotated Bibliography

Marriage Equality at UTEP

Luis Tovar

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

10/28/2018
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2

Research Questions

How does Marriage Equality affect inclusion for LGBTQ+ individuals in society?

Is there a negative stigma/stereotype surrounding same-sex couples?

If marriage is a union between two people (a man and a woman), why does it exclude same-sex

couples?

Should same-sex couples be allowed these marriage rights?

How do views on same-sex couples and marriage differ throughout the years?
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 3

Annotated Bibliography

Butler, E. W. (1979). Homosexuality. In E. W. Butler (Ed.), Traditional Marriage

and Emerging Alternatives (pp. 395-396-425). New York, N. Y.: Harper & Row,

Publishers. According to Butler, other forms of marriage outside what is perceived as a

traditional monogamous marriage, are farm from what society labels them as

dysfunctional (pg. xi). Other forms of marriage in his book is referred to as emerging

alternatives; chapter 16 deals specifically with homosexuality. The way gender roles are

depicted in society reflects how homosexual partners take on roles in their own

relationship; the idea of having two partners, one who accentuates masculine traits and

feminine traits. These roles are taken in the queer community, but there is also a situation

where society prevents homosexuals from displacing these traits and forces them to hide

their “gayness”. Society has stuck up a stigma that dictates how LGBTQ+ individuals

should act around heterosexual individuals. People who identify as gay explain that this

forced label is why same-sex unions fail. The legal status that is upheld for

heterosexuals is not carried over to same-sex marriage despite following a similar

structure.

Goetting, N. (2013). Gay Marriage is a Fundamental Right. National Lawyers Guild

Review, 70(3), 137-144. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=94145322&site

=eds-live&scope=site. Goetting states that denying the right to same-sex marriage is

inexcusable. Using the Supreme Court, he identified the following, marriage is something

valued, as seen in the nineteenth century cases regarding marriage, and that gay people

are included under the constitution (2013, p. 137). Concerning the Kennedy Triumvirate,
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 4

Justice Scalia viewed same-sex eroticism, or any act of same-sex desire, as

immoral. This shows how Butler says society depicts same-sex relations or eroticism, as

meaningless between a same-sex couple. That they do not have emotional value between

the two and are just confused about their sexuality. Kennedy understood that being gay

was something valuable to the LGBTQ community, a prideful self-identification. With

laws that protected gay individuals from discrimination, in Lawrence v. Texas, the

Supreme Court understood the insights of the LGBTQ community. Kennedy understood

how gay sex can correlate to a relationship that has value.

Herek, G. M. (2011). Anti-Equality Marriage Amendments and Sexual Stigma. Journal of Social

Issues, 67(2), 413-426. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2011.01705.x. Herek (2011) describes

the issue that is attached to what we define as marriage as the union of one man and one

woman through the federal Defense of Marriage Act (1996). This directly affects

LGBTQ+ individuals because it stigmatizes anything outside a non-heterosexual

relationship (pg. 413). Herek further states that this sexualizing stigma can be based on

how heterosexuals have a negative attitude towards the sexual minority while also saying

how this stigma can be derived from religious views, laws, and social interaction

(pg. 415). Throughout the years, views on same-sex couples have shifted to a more

positive outlook. Heterosexual individuals who have had contact with an LGBTQ+

individual have shown that they themselves have talked to that queer individual about

their own experience with their sexual orientation and or identify and have gotten a better

understanding of why someone’s gender and or sexual orientation is important to a queer

individual. When LGBTQ+ individuals have the safe space of being able to talk about
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 5

their identity, it is more likely for cis gender heterosexual people to be in support of

LGBTQ+ rights such as Marriage Equality.

Kurtz, S. (2003). Gay Marriage Threatens Families. In K. Burns (Ed.), Gay

and Lesbian Families (pp. 11-12-25). Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale. Kurtz claims

that by legalizing gay marriage, it would have an erasure to what the word monogamy

means (pg. 11). A point he provides is that homosexuals would claim monogamy and

turn it into a polyamory. Polyamory contradicts the idea of monogamy, the idea that a

union is between only two people. The claim that this is due to homosexuals is the reason

why there is a stigma between same-sex marriage. Butler explains that there is

a thought and belief that queer individuals want to have sex for the fun of it, without

taking into consideration the monogamy aspect of marriage. Implying that only

homosexuals want to have meaningless sexual relations with each other is a

misconception that society has. Kurtz touches upon the idea that homosexuality is not the

problem, but how same-sex marriage would break the connection to a monogamy, which

would further lead to polygamy, and bring unbalance to marriage itself. This in itself,

that same-sex marriage would be the root of monogamy losing its value, is a stigma put

upon same-sex couples.

Olson, L. R., Cadge, W., & Harrison, J. T. (2006). Religion and Public Opinion about Same-

Sex Marriage. Social Science Quarterly, (2), 340. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.429561

27&site=eds-live&scope=site. Olson, Cadge, and Harrison explain that when it comes to

religion and same-sex marriage, religion is a huge contributor to how same-sex unions

are viewed as untraditional when it comes to moral values in religion (pg. 340.) The
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 6

research conducted showed that individuals who are more involved in their respected

religious affiliations tend to form more conservative thoughts, thus having strong

opinions against a same-sex union. It shows that involvement apart from service, and

individual is more likely to hear more opinions against same sex marriage (pg. 346). This

shows that individuals who are devoted to their religion and fully commit to that

religion’s moral values, the harder it will be for that individual to be in support of pro-gay

rights. They immerse themselves with friends who are also a part of their congregation

where their strong moral values are developed. The traditional view on marriage is that

between a man and a woman. The thought of having same-sex unions shows that religion

plays a huge factor in the public eye to be supportive of same-sex marriage.

Walsh, C. F. (2016). Marriage Equality in the United States. Retrieved from https://0-search-

credoreference-

com.lib.utep.edu/content/entry/wileyfamily/marriage_equality_in_the_united_states/0.

Marriage Equality, according to Walsh (2016), is the idea that any couple, regardless of

sex, should have access to the same benefits that civil marriage provides for married

couples. (par. 2). Benefits that couples get through marriage include filing for joint taxes,

health care, social security benefits, and child care to name a few. Denying these rights to

LGBTQ+ individuals derives from a negative stigma that surrounds the idea that same-

sex couples cannot function or provide to a family the same way that the traditional

family, a male and female figure, can. Therefore, erasing that stigma will allow for

LGBTQ+ individuals to feel more accepted in society as well as grant them marriage

rights that were seen to be applicable to only a man and a woman.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 7

American Civil Liberties Union. (1996). Prohibitions Against Same-Sex Marriage Are

Unconstitutional. In Bender D. & Leone, B. (Ed.), Gay Marriage (pp. 12-13-17). San

Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc. The ACLU argues that the Defense of

Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it discriminates against same-sex couples,

relying that marriage is dependent on one’s gender (1998, p.16). Concurring with news

today, the Trump administration is considering redefining “gender” as being biological

and uninterchangeable. This erases a whole group of individuals who fall under the trans

community. By not letting them have the freedom to change their legal status, trans

individuals will be set back in the community. Studies conducted in 2011 by Esther D,

showed that same-sex couples who were legally recognized by the U.S. showed increased

psychological and tangible benefits as well as acceptance within friends and families and

religious organizations (2017, p. 116). Having trans individual identities erased, their

wellbeing will only plummet if the world does not recognize them.

Deschamps, D., & Singer, B. L. (2017). LGBTQ stats: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,

and Queer People by the Numbers New York: The New Press, 2017. Looking into recent

statistics taken in 2016 by the Williams Institute, forty nine percent of same-sex couples

in the U.S. were married (p. 115). Since the legalization of same-sex marriage, it was

viewed that in counties in Alabama, Texas, and Kentucky are still having debates on

whether to let same-sex couples obtain their marriage license. Allowing for same-sex

marriage and rights has had a huge impact on today’s society. Compared to a poll

conducted in 2016 about what Americans thought about same-sex couples having

marriage rights, sixty one percent of Americans thought that same-sex couples should

have the same rights; this is twenty seven percent higher than a poll done in 1996 (p.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 8

149). This increase support is also seen amongst religious groups between 2001 and

2015. Fifty eight percent in Catholics, sixty-four of white mainline Protestants, thirty nine

percent in black Protestants, and twenty seven percent among white evangelical

Protestants (p. 149-150). Millennials are the generation that has been upfront and

supportive on LGBTQ+ rights, with seventy one percent being supportive of same-sex

marriage in 2016 (p. 149). More and more support for same-sex marriage is being carried

by newer generations as older traditions are being laid to rest.

Chauncey, G. (2004). Why marriage? The History Shaping Today's Debate Over Gay

Equality Cambridge, MA: Basic Books, c2004. Chauncy claims that there are four

fundamental changes that have occurred since the nineteenth century regarding same-sex

marriage. First is the right to choose a partner, regardless of family, ethnic community,

and religion, has become a fundamental right; second, traditional “husband” and “wife”

roles, gender roles, have decline; third is that the exclusion of same-sex couples imposes

economic and legal consequences; and that lastly, religious organizations have slowly

stopped forcing their marriage ideals through the years (2004, p. 59-60). Chauncy

explains how back then, when woman would get married, they would change their last

name, and everything they owned would find new ownership with their husband. The

idea of how the man of the house dictated and owned everything; a woman lost much

more to a man when married compared to the male. With the rights that have been

granted to woman, they gained more responsibilities and rights, as it should have been

from the start. Because of this, the roles of husband and wives has diluted and has open

opportunities to have more of a gender-neutral marriage.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 9

Raygoza, J. (2015, July 21, 2015). Quits: Equality for better or for worse. The

Prospector doi:https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1215&conte

xt=prospector. After same-sex marriage was legal, El Paso granted its first same-sex

divorce to Jenifer Gasca and Stephanie Mitchelle. Granting divorce to same-sex couples

is just as important as granting them marriage. Before, same-sex couples would have to

file for a divorce to whichever state had same-sex marriage laws. Carlos Villa said that is

any judge in the area must follow whatever is put in place. With the passing for marriage

equality, student Jason Martinez stated that low number of divorce rates was due to the

fact that marriage equality was newly obtained at the time. Looking into LGBTQ STATS,

a recent book in gathering up LGBTQ statistics, notes that a research done by Williams

Institute says that on 2014, the average divorce rate for same-sex couples was 1.1 percent

annually compared to the two percent for heterosexual couples (2017, p. 119). Opening

up marriage for same-sex couples enables for other laws to be changed accordingly.

Issues regarding same-sex couples wanting to adopt and custody between same-sex

couples would be something worth fighting for.