Bronwyn Winter

Réjane Sénac

Maxime Forest

This book provides a comparative, neo-institutionalist approach to the different factors impacting state adoption of—or refusal to adopt—same-sex marriage laws. The now twenty-one countries where lesbians and gay men can legally marry include recent or longstanding democracies, republics and parliamentary monarchies, and unitary and federal states. They all reflect different positions with respect to religion and the cultural foundations of the nation. Countries opposed to such legalization, and those having taken measures in recent years to legally reinforce the heterosexual fundaments of marriage, present a similar diversity. This diversity, in a globalized context where the idea of same-sex marriage has become integral to claims for LGBTI equality and indeed LGBTI human rights, gives rise to the following question: which factors contribute to institutionalizing same-sex marriage? The analytical framework used for exploring these factors in this book is neo-institutionalism. Through three neo-institutionalist lenses—historical, sociological and discursive—contributors investigate two aspects of the processes of adoption or opposition of equal recognition of same-sex partnerships. Firstly, they reveal how claims by LGBTIQ movements are being framed politically and brought to parliamentary politics. Secondly, they explore the ways in which same-sex marriage becomes institutionalized (or resisted) through legal and societal norms and practices. Although it adopts neo-institutionalism as its main theoretical framework, the book incorporates a broad range of perspectives, including scholarship on social movements, LGBTI rights, heterosexuality and social norms, and gender and politics.

A Neo-Institutional Approach

Global Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage

« La diversité, c’est bon pour le business »; « Si Lehman Brothers avait été Lehman Sisters,« Si Lehman Brothers avait été Lehman Sisters, il n’y aurait pas eu la crise »... Ces slogans, associant l’inclusion des femmes et des personnes racisées à une plus-value, concourent-ils à faire de l’égalité, principe fondateur du pays des droits de l’H(h)omme, une réalité ? Réjane Sénac montre que cette marchandisation de l’égalité participe de la reproduction d’une société inégalitaire. À travers une lecture critique de la devise républicaine, elle propose de dépasser un héritage fondé sur la complémentarité sexuée ou racisée. S’imaginer comme un.e semblable est, selon elle, la condition pour que chacun.e puisse s’épanouir à égalité dans sa singularité individuelle.

Réjane Sénac

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