Intimacy and Power: Approaching Agency and Marriage Equality in Australia
Abstract
At its most fundamental, ‘making a mark’ describes a particular mode of human agency. For LGBTIQA* Australians, the struggle for the recognition of this agency has long been a feature of living in Australia, and its political landscape. In recent years, marriage equality has become the focus of this struggle for recognition, but marriage equality also provides an opportunity to examine the internal mechanics of how power operates in Australian society. This paper argues that the concept of intimacy is at the centre of the operation of power in this context, and will examine this under the framework of intimate citizenship. It will examine the history of the LGBT+ rights movement in Australia, alongside the historical development of the marriage equality movement. Moreover, it will demonstrate that the agency of LGBT+ Australians in this political struggle is only further indication that intimacy provides a unique channel through which power is experienced and enacted.References
Altman, D. (2011) ‘Same-sex marriage is just a sop to convention’, The Australian, February 2, p. 4
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017) Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, 2017, cat. no. 1800.0, available from:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1800.0~2017~Main%20Features~Results~1
Berlant, L. (1997) The Queen of America goes to Washington City: Essays on Sex and Citizenship, Duke University Press: Durham NC
Brandzel, A. L. (2005) ‘Queering Citizenship? Same-sex marriage and the State’ in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay studies, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 171-204
Brook, H. (1997) ‘The Troubled Courtship of Gladys and Mick’ in Australian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 419-436
Coontz, S. (2005) Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage, Penguin Books: Camberwell VIC
Corbin, A. (1990) ‘Backstage’ in A History of Private Life, Volume IV: From the Fires of Revolution to the Great War (eds. P. Ariès & G. Duby; Trans. A. Goldhammer), pp. 451-668
Croome, R. (2011) ‘True and Good Citizens’ in Overland, Winter, No. 203, Available from: https://overland.org.au/previous-issues/issue-203/feature-rodney-croome/
Edelman, L. (2004) No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, Duke University Press: London UK
Ellinghaus, K. (2003) ‘Absorbing the “Aboriginal Problem”: Controlling interracial marriage in Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries’ in Aboriginal History, Vol. 7, pp. 184-207
Feit, M. (2005) ‘Extinction Anxieties: Same-sex Marriage and Modes of Citizenship’ in Theory and Event, Vol. 8, No. 3, Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/187834.
Galloway, K. (2015) ‘Marriage and Equality: What’s love go to do with it?’ in Alternative Law Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 225-228
Giddens, A. (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love & Eroticism in Modern Societies, Stanford University Press: Stanford CA
Grossi, R. (2012) ‘The meaning of love in the debate for legal recognition of same-sex marriage in Australia’ in International Journal of Law in Context, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 487-505
Harrison, B. F. & M. R. Michelson (2017) ‘What’s love got to do with it?: Emotion, Rationality, and Framing LGBT Rights’ in New Political Science, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 177-197
Jamieson, L. (1999) ‘Intimacy Transformed? A critical look at the “pure relationship”’ in Sociology, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 477-494
Jensz, F. (2010) ‘Controlling marriages: Friedrich Hagenauer and the betrothal of Indigenous Western Australian women in colonial Victoria’ in Aboriginal History, Vol. 34, pp. 35-54
Kalina, P. (2013) ‘Just a normal family: DOCUMENTARY’, Sydney Morning Herald, November 18, p. 7
Kantsa, V. (2014) ‘The price of marriage: same-sex sexualities and citizenship in Greece’ in Sexualities, Vol. 17, No. 7, pp. 818-836
Marshall, T. H. (1950) Citizenship and Social Class: and other Essays, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge UK
McGrath, A. (2005) ‘Consent, Marriage, Colonialism: Indigenous Australian Women and Coloniser Marriages’ in Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, Vol. 6, No. 3
McKeown, D. (2017) ‘Chronology of same-sex marriage bills introduced into the federal parliament: a quick guide’, research paper, Parliament of Australia, Department of Parliamentary Services, Canberra ACT
Perales, F. & A. Campbell (2017) Revealed: Who Supports Marriage Equality in Australia – and Who Doesn’t, The Conversation, available from: https://theconversation.com/revealed-who-supports-marriage-equality-in-australia-and-who-doesnt-82988
Plummer, K. (2001) ‘The Square of Intimate Citizenship: Some Preliminary Proposals’ in Citizenship Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 237-253
Puar, J. K. (2007) Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in queer times, Duke University Press: Durham NC
Puplick, C. & L. Galbraith (2014) Marriage Equality for All Australians: Guaranteeing security and certainty for all, Sydney Australia
Razer, H. (2004) ‘Queer eye for the straight tie’, The Age, March 4, p. 10
Richardson, D. (1998) ‘Sexuality and Citizenship’ in Sociology, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 83-100
Roberts, D. A. (2012) ‘Beyond “the stain”: Rethinking the nature and impact of the anti-transportation movement’ in Journal of Australian Colonial History, Vol. 14, pp. 205-279
Simmonds, A. (2005) ‘ “Promises and Pie-Crusts were made to be Broke”: Breach of Promise of Marriage and the Regulation of Courtship in Early Colonial Australia’ in The Australian Feminist Law Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 99-120
Steinbach, S. (2012) ‘Marriage, free love, and “unnatural crimes”’ in Understanding the Victorians: Politics, Culture, and Society in Nineteenth-century Britain, Routledge: Oxfordshire UK, pp. 240-259
Taylor, Y. (2011) ‘Lesbian and Gay Parents’ Sexual Citizenship: Recognition, Belonging and (Re)classification’ in Contesting Recognition: Culture, Identity and Citizenship, P. Phillimore, D. Richardson & J. McLaughlin (eds.), Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire UK, pp. 144-165
Tiernan, E. (2017) ‘“Finally given me the right to be normal” Soccer Canberra United star Michelle Heyman’s reaction to same-sex marriage vote’, The Canberra Times, November 19, p. 64
Wahlström, M. (2018) ‘The meanings of Pride Parades for their Participants’ in Pride Parades and LGBT Movements: Political Participation in an International Comparative Perspective, Routledge: London UK, pp. 190-210
Walker, K. (2007) ‘The Same-sex marriage debate in Australia’ in The International Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 11, Nos. 1-2, pp. 109-130
Warner, M. (1999) The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics and the Ethics of Queer Life, Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA
Willett, G. (2000) Living Out Loud, Allen & Unwin: Sydney NSW
Willett, G. (2010) ‘Howard and the Homos’ in Social Movement Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 187-199
Winter, B. (2014) ‘The “Ties that Bind Us”: The Hidden Knots of Gay Marriage’, in PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1-26
Yaxeley, L. (2017) ‘Same-sex marriage bill passes House of Representatives after hundreds of hours of debate’ ABC News, December 7, available from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-07/same-sex-marriage-bill-passes-house-of-representatives/9235560
