“Defenders of perversion”: Professing Same-Sex Marriage Rights in the Local Press

Authors

  • Geraint Osborne University of Alberta, Augustana Campus
  • Shauna Wilton University of Alberta, Augustana Campus

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15402/esj.v8i3.70358

Keywords:

community engagement, same-sex marriage,, frame analysis,, media,, democracy

Abstract

This case study provides an important socio-historical snapshot of the same-sex marriage debate in a small city in central Alberta between December 2004 and August 2005. We explore the relationship between professors and small-town newspapers in fostering democratic dialogues on key social issues through an analysis of faculty columns and the responding Letters to the Editor in a local paper. In so doing, this research focuses on two social groups located in a particular social environment, each representing a particular frame: the professors working in the local university who maintained an op-ed column in the local paper and supported a equality frame; and the general public living in Camrose and the surrounding rural area who supported a morality frame. This article contributes to our understanding of scholarly engagement in the town-gown context, the democratic role of the press, and how a particularly contentious social and political issue—same-sex marriage—was experienced and framed by concerned citizens in a small conservative rural city that is also the home to a liberal arts and sciences university campus. 

Author Biographies

Geraint Osborne, University of Alberta, Augustana Campus

is a sociologist who teaches in the Law, Crime, and Justice program at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta. His research areas are cannabis normalization and stigma, hockey violence, and the community role of public scholars. 

Shauna Wilton, University of Alberta, Augustana Campus

is a political scientist in the Law, Crime and Justice Studies program at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on the intersections of ethnicity, gender, policy, and culture. 

References

Archer, K. (1992). Voting behaviour and political dominance in Alberta, 1971–1991. In A. Tupper & R. Gibbins (Eds.), Government and politics in Alberta (pp. 109-136). University of Alberta Press.

Bannerman, S. (2012). Same-sex marriage, social cohesion, and Canadian values: A media analysis. Canadian Journal of Communication, 36(4), 599-619.

Bonner, K. (1997). A great place to raise kids: Interpretation, science, and the urban-rural debate. McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Bowal, P., & Campbell, C. (2007). The legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada. American Journal of Family Law, 21(2), 37-41.

Dahlgren P., & Sparks, C. (1995). Communication and citizenship. Routledge.

Glass, C., & Kubasek, N. (2008). The evolution of same-sex marriage in Canada: Lessons the U.S. can learn from their Northern neighbor regarding same-sex marriage rights. Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, 15(1), 143-204.

Gomm, R., Hammersley, M., & Foster, P. (2000). Case study and generalization. In R. Gomm, M. Hammersley & P. Foster (Eds.), Case study and method: Key issues, key texts (pp. 98-115). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Habermas, J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. (T. Burger & F. Lawrence, Trans.). The MIT Press.

Harde, R. (2017, October 31). Outing Dumbledore. Camrose Booster, p. 21.

Hogg, P. (2006). Canada: The Constitution and same-sex marriage. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 4(3), 712-721.

Johansen, J. (n.d.) How Augustana began. http://www.augustana.ualberta.ca/files/group/81/How%20Augustana%20Began%20-%20John%20Johansen.pdf

Johnson, T. (2012). Equality, morality, and the impact of media framing: Explaining opposition to same-sex marriage and civil unions. Politics & Policy, 40(6), 1053-1080.

Lahey, K., & Alderson, K. (2004). Same-sex marriage: The personal and the political. Insomniac Press.

Larocque, S. (2006). Gay marriage: The story of a Canadian social revolution. James Lorimer & Co.

Lee, T. T., & Hicks, G. (2011). An analysis of factors affecting attitudes toward same-sex marriage: Do the media matter? Journal of Homosexuality, 58(10), 1391-1408.

Li, X., & Xudong, L. (2010). Framing and coverage of same-sex marriage in U.S. newspapers. The Howard Journal of Communications, 21(1), 72-91.

Lloyd, J., & Bonnett, L. (2005). The arrested development of queer rights in Alberta. In T. Harrison (Ed.), The return of the trojan horse: Alberta and the new world (dis)order (pp. 328-341). Black Rose Books.

McLaughlin, N., & Townsley, E. (2011). Contexts of cultural diffusion: A case study of “Public Intellectual” debates in English Canada. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne de Sociologie, 48(4), 341-368.

MacIntosh, H., Andruff, H., & Reissing, E. (2010). Same-sex marriage in Canada: The impact of legal marriage on the first gay and lesbians to wed. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 19(3), 79-90.

Mahoney, J. (2003, August 9). Gay weddings get mixed reception in Camrose. The Globe and Mail, p. A6.

Matthews, J. S. (2005). The political foundations of support for same-sex marriage in Canada. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 38(4), 841-866.

Norrie, K., Owram, D., & Emery, J. C. H. (2002). A history of the Canadian economy (3rd ed.). Thomson-Nelson.

Osborne, G., & Wilton, S. (2017). Professing in the local press: Professors and public responsibilities. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 10(1), 67-80.

Osborne, H. (2005, February 22). The nature of sex. Camrose Booster, p. 11.

Overby, L. M., Raymond, C., & Taydas, Z. (2011). Free votes, MPs, and constituents: The case of same-sex marriage in Canada. American Review of Canadian Studies, 41(4), 465-478.

Parliament of Canada. (n.d.). History of federal ridings since 1867. http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/FederalRidingsHistory/HFER.asp

Pahl. R. (1968). The rural-urban continuum. In R.E. Pahl (Ed.), Readings in urban sociology (pp. 263-305). Pergamon Press.

Pettinicchio, D. (2010). Public and elite policy preferences: Gay marriage in Canada. International Journal of Canadian Studies, 42, 125-153.

Pierceson, J. (2005). Courts, liberalism and rights: Gay law and politics in the United States and Canada. Temple University Press.

Rayside, D. (2008). Queer inclusions, continental divisions: Public recognition of sexual diversity in Canada and the United States. University of Toronto Press.

Said, E. (1994). Representations of the intellectual. Vintage.

Sen. A. (1999). Development as freedom. Anchor Books.

Seigel, A. (1996) Politics and the media in Canada. McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

Smith, M. (2007). Framing same-sex marriage in Canada and the United States: Goodridge, Halpern and the national boundaries of political discourse. Social & Legal Studies, 16(1), 5-26.

Smith, M. (2005). The politics of same-sex marriage in Canada and the United States. PS: Political Science & Politics, 38(2), 225-228.

Statistics Canada. (n.d.). Religions in Canada: Highlight tables, 2001 census. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/english/census01/products/highlight/SAC/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=01&Table=1a&StartRec=1&Sort=2&B1=Age&B2=Counts

van der Toorn, J., Jost, J. T., Packer, D. J., Noorbaloochi, S., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2017). In defense of tradition: Religiosity, conservatism, and opposition to same-sex marriage in North America. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(10), 1455-1468.

Wesley, J. (2011). Code politics: Campaigns and cultures on the Canadian prairies. University of British Columbia Press.

White, L. (2014). Federalism and equality rights implementation in Canada. The Journal of Federalism, 44(1), 157-182.

Wilton, S. (2005a, January 11). Respect, equality, and same-sex marriages. Camrose Booster.

Wilton, S. (2005b, March 22). Free speech vs. hate speech. Camrose Booster.

Yin, R. K. (2003a). Applications of case study research (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc..

Yin, R. K. (2003b). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Young, K., & Nathanson, P. (2007). Redefining marriage or deconstructing society: A Canadian case study. Journal of Family Studies, 13(2), 133-178.

Published

2022-12-22

How to Cite

Osborne, G., & Wilton, S. . (2022). “Defenders of perversion”: Professing Same-Sex Marriage Rights in the Local Press. Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching, and Learning, 8(3), 32–51. https://doi.org/10.15402/esj.v8i3.70358