Psychology, liberalism, and activism: challenging discourses of ‘equality with’ in the same-sex marriage debate

Abstract

Current activism within the discipline of psychology, particularly with regard to the samesex marriage debate, has at times been limited by the reliance upon liberal individualism. More specifically, the liberal assumption of ‘equality with’ may be seen to produce a number of negative outcomes that result from a focus upon singular axes of identity. In contrast to an understanding of activism that focuses on equality, this paper provides an examination of the American Psychological Association’s resolution on same-sex marriage, and proposes that activists (both within the discipline and beyond) may benefit from engaging in analyses of how state sanction serves to ‘domesticate’ same-sex attracted individuals. By elaborating the notion of ‘state moral minimalism’, it is proposed that future resolutions may move away from a simplistic reliance upon the concept of ‘equality’, and may instead move towards an acknowledgment of the multiple ways in which oppression and privilege intersect.