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crisis. Andrew Cherlin has interpreted increasing divorce rates, cohabitation and
same-sex marriage as evidence of a “de-institutionalisation of marriage” (2004).
Cherlin asserts that marriage has become weakened by an erosion of social norms
governing cohabitation, wedlock, divorce and parenting, with the rise of
individualism in the United States and elsewhere breeding dissatisfaction with
established patterns of family life, including marriage. He dismisses Giddens’s
voluntarist pure relationship as, “characteristic of a world where commitment
doesn’t matter,” (2004, p. 858) and evokes a Parsonian ideal of marriage in his
apparent yearning for a reassertion of more gendered family roles. In this context,
granting same-sex couples access to marriage has been interpreted as a sign of its
weakness as an institution, with gay and lesbian couples hastening the destruction of
the institution they covet (Cherlin, 2004).
Others take a more sanguine view of the continuing evolution of marriage. Lee
Badgett (2009) interprets the apparent appetite of same-sex couples for marriage as
evidence of its strength and enduring appeal. Similarly, Nancy Cott (2000) has
argued that greater diversity in intimate life will not bring about the demise of
fulfilling relationships, but will instead encourage more people to seek to form such
relationships, whether through marriage or other new possibilities. George
Chauncey (2004) views the apparent erosion of gender roles within marriage as a
positive development which itself has made same-sex marriage more imaginable,
whereas Nancy Polikoff (2008) argues that the political focus should be on making
marriage matter less, by extending the rights and privileges associated with marriage
more widely.
Friendly and unfriendly fire: Feminist, queer and conservative critiques of legal and
social recognition for same-sex couples
As the previous section of the chapter suggests, legal recognition for same-sex
couples has not been met with universal approval. Walters (2001) identifies two
parallel debates around legal recognition, the first of which is taking place within the
lesbian and gay communities about whether marriage and other forms of legal
recognition are appropriate responses to the needs of same-sex couples. The
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