University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2012 On the Right Side of History: How Lesbian and Gay Activists Galvanized Culture and Politics to make Massachusetts the First State with Legal Same-Sex Marriage Jaime McCauley University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation McCauley, Jaime, "On the Right Side of History: How Lesbian and Gay Activists Galvanized Culture and Politics to make Massachusetts the First State with Legal Same-Sex Marriage" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 503. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/503 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). Under this license, works must always be attributed to the copyright holder (original author), cannot be used for any commercial purposes, and may not be altered. Any other use would require the permission of the copyright holder. Students may inquire about withdrawing their dissertation and/or thesis from this database. For additional inquiries, please contact the repository administrator via email ([email protected]) or by telephone at 519-253-3000ext. 3208. On the Right Side of History: How Lesbian and Gay Activists Galvanized Culture and Politics to make Massachusetts the First State with Legal Same-Sex Marriage by Jaime McCauley A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies Through the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2012 © 2012 Jaime McCauley On the Right Side of History: How Lesbian and Gay Activists Galvanized Culture and Politics to make Massachusetts the First State with Legal Same-Sex Marriage by Jaime McCauley APPROVED BY: Dr. Miriam Smith, External Examiner York University Dr. Christina Simmons Department of History Dr. Gerald Cradock Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology Dr. Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology Dr. Barry Adam, Advisor Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology Chair of Defense Faculty of Graduate Studies AUTHOR’S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this thesis has been published or submitted for publication. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with standard referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included copyrighted material that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the Canada Copyright Act, I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the copyright owner(s) to include such material(s) in my thesis and have included copies of such copyright clearances to my appendix. I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revision, as approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies Office, and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. iii ABSTRACT In November 2003 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sent issued a controversial ruling in favour of same-sex marriage in Goodridge v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In the decade preceding the Goodridge decision, the majority of US states had passed Defense of Marriage Act statutes, barring recognition of same sex marriage, and in the years following Goodridge many states passed constitutional amendments to define marriage between one man and one woman. What sets Massachusetts apart from the rest of the United States on this issue? Through the analysis of Massachusetts newspaper reports, archival material, and interviews with lesbian and gay movement leaders, this dissertation explores the social and political factors in Massachusetts that enabled this state to emerge without a Defense of Marriage Act in place, to win a legal battle to establish legal same- sex marriage, and to fight off attempts to establish an amendment that would have overturned the Goodridge decision. Evidence indicates that 1) cultural and demographic factors facilitated the early emergence of a lesbian and gay rights movement in Massachusetts, 2) throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s activists gained strategic capacity and cultivated elite and grassroots allies, 3) by the 1990’s the victories of the lesbian and gay movement established policy legacies and contributed to cultural change in favour of lesbian and gay people and families, and 4) during the struggle for same-sex marriage in the 2000’s activists successfully drew on the accumulated strategic skills, allies, and resources amassed over decades of movement activity to not only win same-sex marriage rights but to defeat several attempts by opponents to overturn legal recognition of same-sex marriage. This study illuminates the interaction between culture, structure, and agency and underscores the critical importance of engaging political structures, employing broad-based cultural tropes, and making informed strategic decisions to advance movement success. iv To Lisa for everything. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Deep and endless gratitude goes first to my advisor Barry Adam for his gentle and persistent guidance through all stages of the journey to my PhD. Another round of deep and endless thanks goes to Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale for her support and encouragement, and to Sandy Tyndale for support, encouragement, and tech support. I am especially grateful to Dr.’s Adam and Maticka-Tyndale for modeling a research paradigm that includes rigorous sociological work grounded in social justice and action. Their illustrious careers are an intimidating standard to aspire to, and I hope to honour them in some small way with my own success. I offer my sincerest appreciation to committee members Gerald Cradock and Christina Simmons, and to external examiner Miriam Smith, for their critical eye and helpful commentary that extended the scope of this project in important ways. Appreciation is due to my research participants not only for taking time from their busy schedules to share their insights with me, but for their dedicated action of behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights and the countless other causes each of them has supported over the years. Because of their actions, the rest of us can believe that, with a lot of hard work, timing, and strategy, what seems impossible just might be attainable. Special thanks to Arline Isaacson, who acted not only as research subject extraordinaire, but as tour guide and social coordinator during my time in Boston, and Millie Tarallo for allowing me to ride with her and her motorcycle club, Moving Violations, in Boston’s 2009 gay pride parade. I am also grateful to The History Project for their dedication to preserving Boston’s LGBT history and to Libby Bouvier for her assistance with the use of the archives. I am grateful to all the faculty and staff that I had the pleasure of working with at the University of Windsor. Administrative staff Kim Hogue and Kelley Allard accommodated the special demands that came with my living and working in the US for much of the time it took to complete my degree. I gained valuable experience from my teaching assistantships with Dr.’s Reza Nakhaie, Bob Arnold, and Stephanie Ross. I found each of my classes stimulating and informative and I am proud of the knowledge and expertise I gained during my time at Windsor. Thanks go to my fellow students and “angels”, Sandra Bortolin and Catherine Brooke. I appreciate the time that we worked together, travelled together, laughed together, and supported one another. Without the camaraderie of vi Fran Cachon, Lisa Smylie, Dawn Martens, Andrew Tuck, Greg Eclicks, Minerva Saddler, Kelly Phipps, Sarah Beer, Stephen Sheps, Jimmy Blair, Heather Graydon, Jen Cockburn, and Maya Ruggles my time in Windsor would have been very lonely, indeed. Thanks to my friends and family for supporting me over the years it took to complete this endeavour, for believing in me and this crazy scheme to leave my job and complete my PhD in Canada, for tolerating the ups and downs of this process and my often sudden and, at times, lengthy disappearances to concentrate on my writing. Thanks especially to Sandy Hartmann Heisserer, Tereza Szeghi Dempster, and Laurie Trick, who have seen me trough the best of times and the worst of times. I would never have made it this far without their support during critical moments in my life. Special thanks to Ahoo Tabatabai, my beautiful friend and brilliant colleague, for her support and collaboration, travel companionship, calming presence on our flights together (even when we were greeted with fire trucks upon landing!), and helpful advice at every step of the way. And thanks to Katie Gelter, whose cheerful support, understanding, and company was always refreshing and rejuvenating-- and for helping me move to Canada (twice). My Mom and Dad deserve several rounds of thanks for all of their encouragement over all the years. I can finally answer their question, “Did ya finish that book yet, Jaim?”, in the affirmative. To anyone whom I’ve forgotten, and I’m sure there are a few, thank you and please forgive my oversight. And to Lisa, you’re the best. Above all else, this is a love story. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHOR’S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY iii ABSTRACT iv DEDICATION v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi CHAPTER 1.