Proposition 8 and DOMA - What's Next

Explore the issues surrounding marriage in modern America with a panel discussion on “Marriage Equality, Implementation, and What’s Next.” The panelists will discuss the U.S. Supreme Court rulings overturning the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, both designed to prevent same-sex marriages.

“The general discourse on equality can often center on personal freedom and social acceptance,’ says Keaton Cameron-Burr ’15, who proposed the panel.  “However, as marriage equality becomes more mainstream, its easy to forget that the overturn of DOMA and Prop 8 weren't just confirmations that social progress is occurring or boxes to check on the road to federal equality, but arguably the landmark Supreme Court cases of the past two decades.”

“The DOMA and Prop. 8 decisions have had serious, everyday impacts for non-traditional families and couples,” Cameron-Burr adds. “They represent an amazing political victory and shift in cultural perceptions of marriage equality. That these two big court rulings were about marriage is also important, we feel, as it highlights the differential amount of attention that subsets of the LGBTQ movement receive. We didn't want the importance of these rulings to get lost as we move forward and we also want to show that the fight for equality is not over just because DOMA was declared unconstitutional.”

Panel Discussion: 4:15 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 11, in Alumni Recitation Hall Room 302. 

The panelists will be:

• Ed Butler, State of New Hampshire House of Representatives
• Maura Strassberg, professor of law, Drake Law School
• Lakesia Johnson, Grinnell College assistant professor of gender, women’s, and sexuality studies

The free event is open to the public and sponsored by the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights.