M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Same-sex marriage is legally recognized in South Africa and thereby casting gay men as acceptable sexual citizens. Gay men who choose not to marry are subject to further sexual discrimination. To explore the constructions and social meanings of gay men in same-sex marriage, four self-identified gay men who had been married for at least a year were interviewed. Guided by a social constructionist epistemology, discourse analysis of these interviews exposed the effects of language in the shaping of identities. The analysis found that the married gay man positions himself as a ‘decent’ sexual subject and assumes the heterosexist ideology of marriage, which discriminates the single gay man as amoral and ‘deviant’. The married gay men used the discourses of healing, othering, protection, rights and playing straight that entrenched heteronormativity as a moral and sexual authority thereby reinforcing homophobic prejudice. Policy and socio-political recommendations were made to address the legal concept of equality from a Queer Theoretical perspective and for the training of psychologists to include critical engagement with gay subjectivity and the gay cultural world.

There is an increasing movement recognizing LGBT rights in the international arena. In China, “tongzhi” (a Chinese term for LGBT) still face massive discrimination due mainly to the Chinese government’s repressive indifference policy. This thesis follows Kees Waaldijk’s developmental pattern theory of the recognition of gay rights, starting from decriminalisation, anti-discrimination, and reaching partnership legislation. It examines this theoretic pattern in relation to the development of sexual minority rights in the United Nations (UN), European and Canadian human rights law systems. Although every jurisdiction has its own unique aspects, each basically followed Waaldijk’s pattern. The thesis concludes that the application of privacy, equality and non-discrimination principles have helped sexual minorities to achieve equal rights in a variety of fields. The thesis further examines whether the experiences within these three human rights systems can be adopted in the Chinese context. Since the UN laws are soft laws, they will help influence legal reform for tongzhi rights in China but will not be a decisive factor. With regard to the regional human rights model, unlike Council of Europe and the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is unlikely to push the development of human rights in China due to the lack of a strong tie between China and ASEAN member states. The Canadian experience is inspiring but will not be easily duplicated due to the lack of democratic institutions and the absence of an effective judicial review system and judicial independence in China. It is anticipated that the Waaldijk pattern cannot be reproduced in the Chinese context. China will take a top-down reform route in terms of the tongzhi rights development. The central authorities will likely adjust relevant policies to the tongzhi group once a crisis has generated sufficient social pressure that would influence the central authorities to consider changing their repressive indifference policy. Same-sex marriage law is anticipated to be the first tongzhi human right legislation in China due to the Chinese traditional culture of tolerance, the support found among academics, and the current political environment.

2011 was the first year the majority of the American public were in favor of same-sex marriage—a nine point (and largest year-to-year) increase from 2010. That year gave the LGBTQ community a crucial win in the hard-fought cultural war over government validation of same-sex relationships. Not so coincidentally, 2010 saw mass media, specifically network television, depict same-sex relationships like never before. New shows like Modern Family, Glee and The Good Wife hit their ratings zenith alongside stalwarts like Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and House. But were the relationships depicted diverse in terms of roles, race, class and gender? Or did they resemble the heteronormative ideal of the white, upper middle-class relationship and family? Through a discourse analysis of popular, scripted network television shows from the 2010-2011 season, I found the depictions to powerfully create a “normal” same-sex relationship towards a heteronormative ideal. Both the same-sex women and men’s relationships were heteronormative in that their statuses and roles within the relationship adhered to the classic masculine/feminine binary. However, the same-sex women’s relationships were queerer, exhibiting sexual fluidity and labels beyond gay and straight. Still, the women maintained Western, feminine appearances supporting Laura Mulvey’s male gaze. The same-sex men’s relationships fully supported Jasbir Puar’s notion of the “exceptional homosexual.” Beyond their roles, the men’s relationships were heteronormative by being same-raced/white, upper-class, and, in two out of the three couples, having children. Ultimately, all the depictions exemplified Monique Wittig’s frustration that historical “discourses of heterosexuality oppress us in the sense that they prevent us from speaking unless we speak on their terms.”

This case study examined the San Francisco Mayoral Office's public relations management of the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses. The research was conductedas a case-study, integrating a comprehensive literature review and semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the results suggested that the Mayoral Office's campaign was successful in meeting its goal of marrying same-sex couples; the Office was somewhat effective in getting its primary messages reported by the print media, and the Office utilized innovative strategies to reach its key publics through the use of diverse spokespersons and a humanizing focus. Five major implications emerged from the study. First, crisis planning is essential to the effective management of crisis situations. Second, humanizing controversial messages to target audiences can be very effective. Third, providing media training to spokespersons can improve the organization's overall message. Fourth, segmenting key messages within the target audience is fundamental. Fifth, spokespersons' roles can have a significant impact on the public's perception of an organization's management of a crisis situation.

This thesis examines the abilities of constitutional mini-publics to make legitimate constitutions. Legitimacy in this thesis is defined as following the ideal of public reason. It is a quantitative study of the third weekend of the Irish Convention on the Constitution (a constitutional mini-public). They deliberated on and recommended amending the Constitution to allow same-sex marriage. Previous research into the legitimacy of constitutional mini-publics has been limited to studying their form, for example, participant selection or decision-making process. This thesis analyses the content of the deliberation. A series of theme analyses were performed to discover the reasons used. The reasons were categorised as public or nonpublic. The Convention on the Constitution justified all their decisions with public reasons. Showing constitutional mini-publics can make legitimate constitutions based on the ideal of public reason under the right circumstances.

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This study concerns the practices of woman/woman marriage among the Gikuyu of Kenya. Though widely practiced, such marriages have seldom been studied, and virtually not at all among the Gikuyu. Such practices had been only lightly, and inadequately, addressed over five decades ago by Leakey (1938/1977). This study, designed as preliminary fieldwork, explores Gikuyu woman/woman marriage practices to gain useful basic information to provide a point of entry for future research. In this study I address shortcomings of previous research on woman/woman marriages, such as the prevalent emphasis on reductionist explanations for their occurrences. On the basis of preliminary fieldwork among Gikuyu women engaged in these practices, and my experiences as a member of Gikuyu society, I assert that women have much greater latitude in choosing how and why they participate in woman/woman marriages than the literature suggests. Such marriages take diverse, and often complex forms that are not adequately addressed by single-explanation definitions or descriptions. Secondly, the study attempts to locate a space for these practices in the feminist and family studies literatures, while questioning the absence of woman/woman marriages from both arenas of discourse. I argue that the exclusion of woman/woman marriages from feminist discourse and the family studies literatures is not an accident, as both discourses have marginalized voices from so-called "third world" locations. / Master of Science