Gay Marriage in the US: Challenging the National Security Imaginary

Same-sex Marriage in the United States: Challenging the National Security Imaginary is an interrogation of the movement for same-sex marriage equality in the United States and the challenges it represents to the security of the nation. In order to examine why and in what ways same-sex marriage is interpreted as a danger or threat to the nation and its security, the author draws upon critical feminist IR theory, including theories of nation and nationalism, queer theory, and feminist theories on marriage and heteronormativity to frame her research. The national security imaginary with its gendered, sexualized and racialized constructions of “danger” and (in)security suggests that gay marriage is perceived as threatening to the reproduction of the heteropatriarchal, capitalist nation. While the U.S. nation-state is founded on myths of white, heteropatriarchal, christian, capitalist norms, it also sees itself as a liberal democratic nation in which the equal rights of all are respected. It is this tension between these two contradictory “myths” of the nation that provide an apertura for same-sex equality claims and victories.