LGBT Equality and Changing Meanings of Parenthood

This presentation uncovers the destabilizing and transformative dimensions of a legal process commonly described as assimilation. Lawyers working on behalf of a marginalized group often argue that the group merits inclusion in dominant institutions, and they do so by casting the group as like the dominant majority. Scholars have criticized claims of this kind for affirming the status quo and muting significant differences of the excluded group. Yet, as this presentation shows through a close examination of LGBT claims to marriage and parenthood, the process of assimilation involves not only the loss of distinctive identity, but also the promise of new meanings and institutional norms. Assimilation can be a generative process in which the assimilated group is altered at the same time that mainstream practices are remade. It focuses on the dynamics of assimilation specifically with respect to law, showing how legal claims that appear assimilationist may subtly challenge and reshape norms structuring dominant institutions.