American Historical Association

Events of the AHA Working Group for

Historical Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage

for the January 7-10, 2010 Annual Meeting in San Diego

The passage of Proposition 8 in California in November 2008 prompted the submission of a resolution at the AHA Business Meeting in January 2009. To implement the resolution passed by the AHA Council, a working group was formed to create a threaded miniconference at the 2010 meeting to explore historical perspectives on same-sex marriage. Working group members are:

• Kristin Hoganson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) representing the 2010 Program Committee
• Leisa Meyer (College of William and Mary) as co-chair of the AHA’s LGBTQ Task Force
• James Green (Brown University)

As well as the AHA vice presidents:

• Karen Halttunen (University of Southern California) of the Teaching Division, who also chairs the group
• David Weber (Southern Methodist University) of the Professional Division,
• Iris Berger (University at Albany, SUNY) of the Research Division

As charged by the Council and AHA President Laurel Ulrich, the group developed special events and sessions on the subjects of marriage, sexuality, and the social constructions of domestic union.

The working group’s goal was to include histories of marriage and sexuality that range across historical time, geographic space, and thematic focus. There has been a significant expansion of historical scholarship in recent times on the subjects of marriage, sexuality, and the social constructions of domestic unions. The following sessions and events were developed to feature some of this cutting-edge scholarship that illuminates our understanding of these complex and historically contingent institutions and practices.

Thursday, January 7

• 3:00–5:00 p.m. Land of the Free and Home of the Brave: Same-Sex Marriage in Canada, sponsored with the AHA Professional Division, the AHA LGBTQ Historians Task Force, and the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History (Session # 2)

Friday, January 8

• 9:30–11:30 a.m. Marriage, Race and Sexuality in the Atlantic World, sponsored with the AHA Research Division (Session #38)

• 9:30–11:30 a.m. Roundtable in Celebration of Blanche Wiesen Cook, sponsored with the AHA Committee on Women Historians (Session # 39)

• 2:30–4:30 p.m. Gay Marriage and Proposition 8: Reflections, sponsored with the AHA Professional Division, the AHA LGBTQ Historians Task Force, and the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History (Session # 71)

• 2:30–4:30 p.m. The Politics of Marriage in Comparative Perspective: Imperial Legacies in Early America and Colonial India (Session # 72)

• 4:30–6:30 p.m. Screening of An Island Calling, sponsored with the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History

Saturday, January 9

• 7:30–9:00 a.m. Committee on Women Historians breakfast

• 9:00–11:00 a.m. Access Denied: Comparative Biopolitical Perspectives on Marriage Restriction, sponsored with the AHA Professional Division (Session #106)

• 9:00–11:00 a.m. A World of Hurt: Medieval Marriage Practice and Law in a Century of Crisis (Session # 107)

• 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Marry (Session #138)

• 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Male Couples and the Meanings of Same-Sex Love in Turn-of-the-Century Europe and America (Session #139)

• 2:30–4:30 p.m. Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality in Transnational Perspective, sponsored with the AHA Research Division (Session # 173)

• 2:30–4:30 p.m. Inter-Ethnic Marriage in American Comparative Perspective (Session # 174)

• 8:00–10:00 p.m. Plenary session of the Working Group: Marriage on Trial: Historians and Lawyers in Same-Sex Marriage Cases

Sunday, January 10

• 8:30–10:30 a.m. Thinking about Race, Sexuality, and Marriage: A Roundtable on Peggy Pascoe’s What Comes Naturally, sponsored with the AHA Committee on Minority Historians and the Coordinating Council for Women in History (Session #207)