SECTION III: GENDER & SEXUALITY, LAW & MARRIAGE
Assignments
Paper #3: Gender & Race and Marriage & Citizenship: Now and Then

PROMPT AVAILABLE: Monday October 30th
PAPER DUE: Monday November 20th, 11:30am

Objective: synthesize and analyze concepts surrounding "race," "gender," "sexuality," "marriage" and "citizenship" in the context of current and past legal regulation(s) in America.

In a typed, double-spaced 4-6 page (1000-1500 word) essay, respond to the following prompt:

In this section of the course we attempted to analogize race and gender as we examined the institution of marriage and its intersections with citizenship and sexuality in America in the past and the present. We considered how the identifying traits of race, gender, citizenship and sexuality are constructed and discussed how marriage has been an important tool by which these identities are proscribed. In particular, by considering the issues surrounding the historical ban on interracial marriage, we analyzed similar issues surrounding the more recent ban on same-sex marriage. In doing so, we discussed many conceptual meanings of marriage. These include, but are not limited to, marriage as a proxy for other laws and policies that regulate citizenship, marriage as an indicator of full membership in a society, marriage as an institution that links private and public spheres, marriage as a socially legitimizing force, marriage as an ultimate goal for disenfranchised groups, and marriage as a producer and a product of imbalanced power relations between genders.

Write an essay that builds upon an analysis of how the law has regulated and disparaged the citizenship of racial and sexual minorities through historical bans on interracial marriage and same-sex marriage to speculate on the future of when (or if) LGBTQ people will be considered fully equal citizens of America.

You should consider, but not necessarily explicitly answer, the following questions as you write your essay.

• How is the citizenship of a minority group affected by limitations on whom they can marry?
• What are the ways in which marriage is/was used to delineate differences based on race, gender and sexuality?
• What is the relationship between public regulations and private intimacy?
• What are the ways the law currently derogates the rights of LGBTQ Americans?

Your essay must have a clearly articulated thesis and be analytic, not merely descriptive.

REMINDERS
0) YOUR NAME SHOULD APPEAR NOWHERE ON YOUR PAPER UNTIL THE VERY LAST PAGE OF YOUR ESSAY.
1) NO LATE PAPERS OR ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL.
2) YOUR PAPER SHOULD BE DOUBLE SPACED, IN 12 POINT FONT WITH 1-INCH MARGINS AND INCLUDE A TITLE AND WORD COUNT (NOTE: MIN IS NOW 1000, MAX IS 1500).
3) YOUR PAPER SHOULD INCLUDE A THESIS STATEMENT (IN BOLD) WHICH DEMONSTRATES A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE CONCEPTS REFERENCED ABOVE  AND DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO THE PROMPT. YOU SHOULD UNDERLINE ALL MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH TOPIC SENTENCES.
4) YOUR PAPER SHOULD INCLUDE A "WORKS CITED" PAGE OF ANY ARTICLES YOU REFERENCE IN YOUR ESSAY. YOU MAY USE MLA OR APA CITATION STYLE.
5) A SUCCESSFUL PAPER WILL REFERENCE AT LEAST TWO OF THE COURT CASES THAT ARE INCLUDED IN THIS SECTION OF THE COURSE AS WELL AS AT LEAST ONE CURRENT LGBT HISTORICAL EVENT WHICH HAPPENED IN THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS.