Description
California's Proposition 8 revoked the right to marriage for that state's gay and lesbian population. Proposition 8 was a devastating defeat for gay marriage movements across the nation. The primary rhetorical strategy of the No on 8 campaign was a

California's Proposition 8 revoked the right to marriage for that state's gay and lesbian population. Proposition 8 was a devastating defeat for gay marriage movements across the nation. The primary rhetorical strategy of the No on 8 campaign was a reliance on a Civil Rights analogy that constructed the gay and lesbian movement for marriage as a civil right akin to those fought for by African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. Analogizing the gay and lesbian struggle for gay marriage with the racial struggles of the Civil Rights Movement exposed a complicated relationship between communities of color and gay and lesbian communities. This project reads critical rhetoric and intersectionality together to craft a critical intersectional rhetoric to better understand the potentialities and pitfalls of analogizing the gay rights with Civil Rights. I analyze television ads, communiques of No on 8 leadership, as well as state level and national court decisions related to gay marriage to argue alternative frameworks that move away from analogizing and move towards coalition building.
Reuse Permissions
  • Downloads
    pdf (814.9 KB)

    Details

    Title
    • (Re)articulating civil rights rhetoric: a critical intersectional approach to the No on 8 campaign in California
    Contributors
    Date Created
    2011
    Resource Type
  • Text
  • Collections this item is in
    Note
    • Partial requirement for: Ph. D., Arizona State University, 2011
      Note type
      thesis
    • Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-239)
      Note type
      bibliography
    • Field of study: Communication

    Citation and reuse

    Statement of Responsibility

    by Michelle L. Kelsey

    Machine-readable links