Same-sex Marriage

In the past three years, Canada has witnessed landmark court rulings in Ontario, B.C. and Quebec making it legal for gay men and lesbian women to marry. Legislation in the Netherlands and Belgium have also extended marriage to same-sex couples. Legal challenges before the U.S. courts in Hawaii, Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon and California have had the same goal in mind. The same-sex marriage phenomenon is characterized on the one hand by intense personal joys and on the other by long-standing activism and historic legal reasoning. Same-Sex Marriage tells both stories: the experiences of couples who have been able to marry, and the stories behind the scenes that explain how the legal battle has finally been won. Using legal history and interviews, lawyer and professor Kathleen A. Lahey and counselling psychologist Kevin Alderson investigate the two sides of this process, creating a narrative that provides a remarkable case study of progressive social change.