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One Step at a Time: The Dilemmas, Strategies, and Outcomes of Bi-National Same-Sex Relationships During DOMA and Beyond

For 17 years, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Public Law 104-199, 110 U.S. Statutes at Large 2419 (1996), prevented same-sex couples from enjoying the same federal benefits granted to heteronormative married couples. Among these benefits, the inability to provide immigration sponsorship for foreign-born spouses was particularly burdensome for bi-national same-sex couples. In this dissertation, marriage inequality serves as the backdrop for an investigation of bi-national same-sex couples’ dilemmas, strategies, and ultimate outcomes during and after the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section 3 of DOMA. With the use of semi-structured interviews, I collected data from 30 individuals in bi-national same-sex relationships who were together before and after the United States v. Windsor decision. My intent is to both document their experiences and to advance scholarship in the areas of social inequality and social change.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:GEORGIA/oai:scholarworks.gsu.edu:sociology_diss-1094
Date10 May 2017
CreatorsJesus Rafi, Aline
PublisherScholarWorks @ Georgia State University
Source SetsGeorgia State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceSociology Dissertations

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