So who would have thought that the lesbian and gay movement would settle down and get married? You’ve come a long way, baby, from the Stonewall riot in June 1969 to the fairy tale weddings of 2003. But are those wedding rings really symbols of freedom?

It is important to start by supporting the demand for the right to same-sex marriage. The Ontario Court of Appeals handed down a decision on June 10, 2003 that made it illegal to discriminate against same-sex couples seeking to marry. This is the latest and the most forceful in a series of court decisions that have ruled that it is illegal in Canada to restrict marriage to heterosexuals. Within hours of the announcement, lesbian and gay couples were seeking legal recognition of their marriages.

The heterosexual monopoly on marriage has been the acceptable face of anti-gay and lesbian bigotry in Canada over the last few years. The Chretien Liberal government created a tremendous opening for bigots by explicitly excluding lesbian and gay marriage from their legislation recognizing the rights of same-sex couples. In so doing, they were catering to those who defend the heterosexual monopoly on marriage.

The recent Ontario court decision put the heat on the hypocritical Liberals, who are now moving to enshrine lesbian and gay marriage rights in law. Premier Klein of Alberta has announced that he will invoke the notwithstanding clause in the Constitution to opt out of recognizing same-sex marriages. In 1999, his government made similar noises when a court decision forced it to acknowledge the basic human rights of lesbians and gay men.

Against Bigotry

The defence of the heterosexual monopoly on marriage has provided a rallying point for opponents of the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered people. It is crucial, then, that those of us who seek to support queer liberation line up against the bigots by supporting the full recognition of same-sex marriage, including demanding that the federal government implement complete equality in law and move against any provincial government that attempts to weasel out of it.

But whatever happened to sexual liberation? It is not only the exclusion of lesbians and gays that makes marriage an oppressive institution. Marriage is part of a regime of sexual regulation that legalizes and rewards certain forms of sexuality and intimacy while downgrading or suppressing others. Why should couples who publicly proclaim monogamy receive any form of special recognition?

The recognition of lesbian and gay matrimony lends some legitimacy to this oppressive institution by suggesting that marriage is not as restrictive as its opponents contend. It also strengthens the conservative pole within lesbian and gay politics, reinforcing a strategy of winning acceptance within an oppressive sex and gender system rather than fighting for real liberation.

This conservative pole is not simply a result of a focus on marriage strategies. A section of lesbian and gay communities is within sight of winning all they have been fighting for: equality with heterosexuals. We are still not there, of course, and heterosexism remains a potent force in our schools, on the streets, as well as in many families, communities, religious institutions, and workplaces. But it is possible now to imagine what full equality would look like and to see it as possible, indeed imminent.

Liberation Means More than Rights

But sexual liberation needs to be about more than equality with heterosexuals. The sex and gender system needs to be cracked wide open, so that people have the power and resources to make real choices about their own gender and sexual practices.

Only days before the Ontario Court of Appeal decision was handed down, there was an article in the Toronto Star (June 8) about the steps in front of a coffee shop in Toronto’s gay village near Church and Wellesley. These steps have been a gathering place for years. However, merchants are now expressing concern that the steps are providing comfort for the wrong sort of people. Shop owner Georgina Meyers was quoted as saying that “People are standing around blocking the businesses…These aren’t members of the community. It’s street people and kids.”

The boundaries of “the community” are being drawn in very particular ways in many lesbian and gay circles. They are often limited to couples who can afford to purchase commercialized lesbian and gay lifestyles by being in the right places (bars, restaurants, cafes) and wearing the right clothes and hair styles. Low-income queers, transgendered people, and people of colour are often excluded from these communities on simple economic grounds or through various mechanisms of discrimination.

Equality with heterosexuals is an important struggle for equal rights within capitalist society. But, the animating vision of queer liberation needs to take us much farther than that--to the abolition of state-regulated marriage and the struggle for the resources and power to have real freedom in our sexual and intimate lives. Lesbian and gay marriage is a political gain, but let’s not mistake it for liberation.