Full Details

Thursday, March 30 to Saturday, April 1

Faculty Research Workshop: Marriage Equality in Advanced Industrialized Democracies
Time:
(All day)
Presenter:
Helma de Vries-Jordan, University of Pittsburgh - Bradford (faculty organizer)
Location:
TBA
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center and European Union Center of Excellence along with Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Office of the Provost, Year of Diversity, GSWS Program and European Union
Contact:
Allyson Delnore
Contact Phone:
624-5404
Contact Email:
adelnore@pitt.edu

Students, faculty, and the public are welcome to attend the keynote address and the panels. View the Conference program (http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/esc/system/files/resources/documents/2017-jm-ma...) for information about the panel topics, times and locations.

Marriage equality movements in advanced industrialized democracies have been remarkably successful in achieving policy change. From 2001 to 2016, marriage equality has been achieved in nearly two dozen states. Since many of these victories occurred in Europe, North America, and Oceania, it is timely to organize a conference in which scholars and participants can explore how marriage equality is impacting the future of LGBTQ rights. The pathways to marriage equality have been incredibly varied, including legislation, litigation, and referendums. Moreover, marriage equality has been achieved across a broad range of institutional climates, from parliamentary to presidential systems and from federal to unitary states. The increasingly transnational networks of activists working to advance marriage equality may have contributed to the policy diffusion of marriage equality. Despite the extension of marriage equality, the LGBTQ community continues to experience discrimination and harassment, and in some states, legal protections regarding non-discrimination, parenting, or gender recognition are inadequate.

The faculty research workshop on marriage equality in advanced industrialized democracies will be held from March 30th to April 1st, 2017, at the University of Pittsburgh. This international conference is organized by Professor Helma de Vries-Jordan, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Law, under the leadership of the European Studies Center and Jean Monnet European Union Centre of Excellence. The workshop integrates social movements scholarship concerning marriage equality, other LGBTQ rights, and gender equality, placing them in comparative and international perspective. The conference will bring together some of the leading scholars in this field, presenting papers and engaging in dialogue about future directions for scholarship, with the goal of promoting collaborations between scholars and interactions amongst conference participants which will include faculty, students, and community members.

The conference will examine the factors that have influenced marriage equality movements and relevant LGBTQ rights policy-making, both in states with marriage equality and in states with ongoing campaigns. Causal factors that may be explored include dynamics in the political opportunity structure, identity-based versus strategic framing of issues, diffusion of norms regarding LGBTQ rights, and networking of activists. We will explore a number of central debates regarding the impact of marriage equality on the future of LGBTQ rights and regarding the transnational social movements working to advance gender and sexual equality. Questions will include: How has marriage equality impacted or been influenced by progress on other LGBTQ rights issues, or has marriage equality contributed to backlash or delays in achieving other rights? How have marriage equality movements’ level of inclusiveness regarding sexual and gender minorities impacted their advocacy and post-marriage equality policy outcomes? Finally, how portable are the strategies, frames, resources, and networks of activists across borders, and how has cooperation or conflict between activists across borders influenced these movements?