ABSTRACT
In 2006, approximately two dozen thinkers and activists drafted a statement entitled Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision for All Our Families & Relationships. Criticizing the mainstream US lesbian and gay movement’s overwhelming focus on marriage, the statement called for a broader relationship policy agenda focused on helping all people in all forms of unrecognized and unsupported caring relationships, not just those same-sex couples who wished to marry. The statement was released in July 2006 with signatures from about 250 prominent public intellectuals, including Cornel West, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Judith Butler. Although the drafters didn’t have the capacity to do sustained organizing around the statement, it nonetheless became extremely influential among critical LGBTQ activists and scholars, and it stands as a key statement of critical queer family politics from that time. This chapter includes a full reprint of the Beyond Same-Sex Marriage statement, paired with a transcribed excerpt from a conversation at the 2016 “After Marriage” conference among some of the statement’s original drafters, reflecting on what is still relevant about the statement today.
