Unconventional Partners: ExploringDifferent Outcomes for Same-Sex Marriage Movements in Vermont andHawaii.

The purpose of this project is to investigate social movements that occurred in Hawaii and Vermont attempting to establish legal rights, tantamount to marriage, for same-sex couples. Its primary goal is to attempt to determine what led to the different outcomes in the two different situations. In Hawaii the social movement to establish same-sex marriage, or a legal equivalent, stalled and subsequently failed. In Vermont, the push for same-sex marriage resulted in the establishment of Civil Unions (CUs). This paper seeks to explain how those in favor of same-sex unions were able to mount a successful campaign. The paper also explores the more generalizable question of: how do scholars explain differences in the outcomes of different social movements? The primary method used by this paper is process tracing through the efforts of those involved in the two movements and the actions taken by people in government, the press, and counter-movements in response to those supporting same-sex marriage. In addition to the process tracing, this paper explores the interrelation of possible key variables in determining the success or failure of the movements. The explored variables include: exogenous influence, theological leadership, demographics, composition of the state legislature, state supreme court membership, public opinion. Other investigations into movements for same-sex marriage have explored and compared a range of demographic variables in the fifty states. This paper is unique because it takes into account the actions of those involved in the social movements as well as exogenous variables. No successful inquiry into the limited number of movements for same-sex marriage rights would be able to provide leverage in explaining their success or failure without actually investigating what occurred in those movements. This paper is also unique because it seeks to parallel the Hawaii and Vermont social movements with the success and failures of other social movements. Part of my investigation included short communicating with current members of Hawaii and Vermont’s legislatures. When seeking to generalize to other social movements, examining the interplay between endogenous and exogenous variables will contribute to the knowledge concerning social movement outcomes. It is also likely that predictions concerning where same-sex marriage movements might be successful will be sharpened by an investigation that compares the success in Vermont with the failure of the movement in Hawaii. My particular research interests lie in religious social movements, therefore one possible future project from this paper would be an exploration of the conflict among various religious leaders when dealing with issues of same-sex partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]