ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how marriage rose from low on the list of goals for the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) + rights movement to become its signature priority. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) was criticized specifically for limiting LGBT+ visibility in its campaigns and letting the Religious Right frame the public conversation as one about "special rights" for gays. The assimilationist approach clearly influenced LGBT+ advocates' attempts to frame the marriage debate in the late 1990s, coincidentally a time when scholars began paying more attention to the framing processes of social movements. A close examination of HRC messaging and Internet use from 2004, an active yet inconsistent year for the marriage equality movement, indicated the organization was by then publicly committed to marriage as a movement priority. On Facebook, Anastasia Khoo asked HRC members to change their social media profile pictures to the new logo in a visible sign of support for marriage equality.
