Intersectionality in California’s Same-Sex Marriage Battles: A Complex Proposition

• Author: Nancy D. Wadsworth
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912910376386
• Date: 01 March 2011
• Published date: 01 March 2011
• Subject Matter: Mini-Symposium

Political Research Quarterly
64(1) 200 –216
Intersectionality in California’s
© 2011 University of Utah
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Same-Sex Marriage Battles:
DOI: 10.1177/1065912910376386
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A Complex Proposition
Nancy D. Wadsworth1
Abstract
This article employs what the author cal s “foundational” intersectional analysis to investigate the coalitional and
rhetorical strategies mobilized by Proposition 8, a 2008 bal ot initiative in California designed to eliminate the right
of same-sex marriage. The author argues that foundational intersectionality is the only method that sufficiently
contextualizes the historical legacies constructing the political institution of marriage and that this method must
incorporate the factor of religion, because religion is central to the politics of “moral values.” The first part of the
article differentiates foundational intersectionality from identity intersectionality as a framework. The author then
sketches how marriage is a political institution constructed in the United States through the simultaneous interactions
of gender, sexuality, race, and religion. The second part of the article applies the framework to an empirical analysis
of four discursive strategies employed by pro– and anti–same-sex marriage forces in California in order to “link their
fate,” or sense of political al iance, to other groups.
Keywords
intersectionality, sexuality politics, Proposition 8, same-sex marriage
Can the politics of any marginalized community sustain
the interaction of religion (as a worldview, a set of prac-
anything other than a single-dimensional or single-axis
tices, and a basis for identity) with other categories con-
approach to politics or liberation?
sidered central to intersectionality. The related other is the
interplay between certain undertheorized combinations
Cathy Cohen (1999, 19)
of privilege and marginalization, particularly at the inter-
section of race, religion, and sexual orientation. Through
Perhaps the most compelling claim about intersection-
an investigation of California’s 2008 marriage protec-
ality as a research paradigm is that it can move beyond
tion ballot initiative, Proposition 8, I attempt to reveal the
single-axis or additive models of identity to illuminate
capacity of more thorough, if sometimes discomfiting,
how intersecting forms of domination produce locations
intersectional analyses to deconstruct an intensely multi-
of both oppression and privilege” even within a single
faceted arena like marriage-rights politics. Intersection-
individual (Baca Zinn and Dill 1996; Simien 2007, 267;
ality scholars have already molded innovative analytical
Dhamoon 2009, 65). Categories of social identity are not
tools; I encourage us to employ them more boldly and
only often inseparable from one another, but also histori-
consistently.
cally constructed, mutually constitutive, institutionally
Proposition 8 is suited to this investigation because
complex, and therefore often in tension.1 If scholars of
similar to but perhaps more notoriously than other
politics can develop more sophisticated ways of studying
anti–same-sex marriage initiatives of the past decade, it
such dynamics, we can then analyze otherwise confound-
produced a demographically complex outcome that many
ing political phenomena in textured and potentially liber-
progressives regarded as politically incongruous, or at
ating ways.
least troubling.2 In one of the nation’s “bluest,” “gayest,”
Intersectional scholarship is proving to be an illuminat-
ing analytical approach to matters of identity, difference,
1University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA
and inequality within political science, particularly with
Corresponding Author:
regard to race, class, and gender. However, it merits fur-
Nancy D. Wadsworth, 474 Sturm Hall, Denver, CO, 80205, USA
ther development in two areas. One is the theorization of
Email: nwadswor@du.edu

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Wadsworth
201
most racially diverse states, as the nation’s first African
Scholars of politics and activists will benefit from recog-
American president was being elected, significant percent-
nizing how such dynamics influence political mobiliza-
ages of left-leaning people of color stepped right, as it
tion, coalition strategies, and legal outcomes.
were, to select the Yes box (McKinley 2008).3 Prop 8 won
My investigation is animated by two normative concerns.
52 percent of the vote, overturning the state high court’s
First, the special complexity of perspectives on same-sex
decision five months earlier to legalize same-sex mar-
marriage among Americans of color is, I believe, only
riage.4 Prop 8 supporters (of all colors) did not simply
responsibly understood through a foundationally inter-
neglect to support the cause of same-sex couples’ right to
sectional approach. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgen-
marry; they proactively chose to restrict a privilege to
dered (LGBT) people of color have identified the need
certain citizens.5 The ballot initiative strategy shrewdly
for intersectional scholarship, as they experience what
enables issue isolation, which means that people can vote
Cohen (1999) has called “secondary marginalization”:
across the complexity of their identity without defying
subordination by race in white-dominant LGBT circles,
their traditional political party allegiance.
by sexuality in their communities of origin, and addi-
On both sides of the Prop 8 battle, racially and religiously
tionally in the larger culture. As the National Black Jus-
diverse coalitions vociferously defended their respective
tice Coalition (NBJC), an African American LGBT rights
viewpoint(s) on marriage, an institution all camps regard
group, put it:
as a political holy grail. Granted, initial exit polls may
have misstated the support by people of color, especially
An intersectional approach would broaden frame-
African Americans, for Prop 8.6 And coalitions seeking
works for racial justice and LGBT rights to include
the protection of “traditional marriage” were undeniably
simultaneous analyses of the impact of race, class,
undercut by elements of cynical opportunism, as when
gender identity, sexual orientation, and other mark-
white conservatives rhetorically drew on civil rights tradi-
ers of difference on social justice movements and
tions to discount same-sex marriage advocates as impos-
policy change at the local, state, and federal levels.
ters. Nevertheless, the substantive strains of religiosity
Using an intersectional approach, the agendas for
and social conservatism within communities of color
racial justice and LGBT rights movements would
(not exclusively, of course) on cross-cutting matters of mar-
become more inclusive and representative of all of
riage rights have been well documented.7 With significant
its members. (Mason 2007, 11)
exceptions, though, intersectionality scholars have not
studied the phenomenon.8 My aim is not to stigmatize
The NBJC urges scholars to consider the impact of reli-
socially conservative communities of color, but rather
gion as both a moral frame and institutional influence on
to attempt a more nuanced understanding of why certain
these battles. I hope to contribute to these efforts.
choices may come to seem reasonable even for groups who
Second, conversations about rights and privileges across
have suffered the effects of similar, and related, political
differently marginalized (and overlapping) communities,
inequalities.
particularly people of color and LGBT people within and
Neither unitary category analysis, which examines polit-
outside the academy, continue to dead-end for lack of, or
ical behavior through one social variable at a time, nor
failure to apply, sufficiently nuanced tools for navigating
intersectional analysis that overlooks religion or analyzes
the dynamic interplay of identity, difference, and power
identity ahistorically can explain the universe of political
across and within groups.10 One tool for moving into more
positions generated by Proposition 8.9 Other subfields
productive territory is intersectional analysis that better
in political science have studied social conservatism and
comprehends the long, complex “marriage” between reli-
religiosity within some American communities of color,
gion and race in U.S. history. The development of such a
but have not developed explanatory frameworks for
resource is risky, as it means taking seriously (if still criti-
capturing how such positions developed, why they per-
cally) particular identities or aspects of identity, such as
sist, or how and when they are strategically mobilized.
religious conservatism, that progressives tend, understand-
I maintain that the proposition battle exposes how inter-
ably, to read as repugnant.11 When intersectional scholars
woven histories of cultural, institutional, and political
avoid contending substantively with its influence in com-
subordination—and of power and privilege—now mobi-
munities of color, we perpetuate the false perception that
lize competing sets of diverse alignment across identity
conservative religion is only politically paired with white
categories of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and
(or otherwise dominant) culture. Religious beliefs and insti-
religion. It is the foundational intersectionality of these
tutions do produce solidarity, civic engagement, and other
...