Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
5-14-2022
Publish
yes
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department
Department of Political Science
Advisor(s)
Kerry Crawford
Emily Westkaemper
Kristin Wylie
Abstract
Throughout history, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have faced criticism and backlash for limitations on marriage equality. Within the last two decades, there have been many initiatives put into place to combat the marriage equality dilemma. I will be conducting two case studies on prominent social movements within the US and UK. Within the UK, I will be examining the Stonewall organization and the LGBT Foundation; and within the US, I will be examining the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. This root of the dilemma spurs mainly from human rights that are being challenged due to individuals' religious ideology. Aside from religious ideology, individuals who hold more conservative values tend to be against same-sex marriage and marriage equality; whereas individuals who hold progressive values tend to support same-sex marriage and marriage equality. Marriage equality should not be a dilemma, but unfortunately in the US and UK it is mainly a political dilemma; but is also a moral, ethical, and legal controversy. The purpose of this research is to compare and contrast marriage equality initiatives taken within the UK to the initiatives taken within the US. I will examine differences in legislation, court rulings, and norms. The final objective of this research is to draw conclusions on both the US’ and UK’s progress in obtaining marriage equality.
Recommended Citation
Santiago, Angel, "Equality across the pond: An analysis of marriage equality between the United States and the United Kingdom" (2022). Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current. 152.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors202029/152
