Abstract:
This study examines the growing population of married and formally committed
same-sex couples by performing a qualitative investigation of their wedding rituals and
the ways in which they negotiate gendered wedding traditions. Respondents’ weddings
closely followed a heteronormative wedding script, but also adapted some heterosexual
rituals to maintain their cultural relevance in an LGBT setting. As same-sex marriage
exists in a hostile social and legal climate, adherence to and adaptation of this cultural
script is a strategy to attain social legitimacy in the face of social and political oppression.
The study further investigates same-sex weddings as a site for identity performance, and
describes the ways in which same-sex couples perform self- and community identity
through wedding and commitment ceremonies. Particular attention is paid to the use of
language to perform or sublimate LGBT identity based on the perception of safety.
Finally, the study examines the impact of same-sex ceremonies on the cultural framework
they inhabit. Same-sex ceremonies can alter notions of gendered behavior by creating a
ceremony without rigid gender roles that is free from the encumbrance of patriarchal
stigma. Furthermore, same-sex ceremonies can affect the perception and expression of
LGBT identity. The “marriage debate” present in literature by and about the LGBT
community seems irrelevant to younger same-sex couples, and the study hypothesizes the
existence of a generation gap within the LGBT community regarding marriage.
