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Abstract
In recent years more legal immigrants have entered the United States through marriage than through any other means, while the desirability of current levels and types of immigration has been a matter of controversy. The United States has also been engaged in a heated public debate over the nature and definition of marriage for the past decade. The source of this debate has been the question of whether the legal status of marriage should be extended to same-sex couples. In this study, we want to point out that these two controversies, over immigration policy and over sexuality and marriage, are, in fact, closely connected. First, we observe that sexuality was historically an explicit basis for the exclusion or inclusion of immigrants. Next, we argue that the changes in U.S. immigration reform of 1965 made sexuality an implicit basis for entry by making heterosexual marriage the primary avenue for migration to the United States. Then, we maintain that American attitudes toward same-sex relations in general, and toward same-sex marriage in particular, have become increasingly polarized at the same time that controversies over immigration have intensified. Moreover, these two controversies are statistically connected in attitudes, as well as connected in history and policy: Attitudes toward same-sex marriage are related to attitudes toward immigration. Finally, we suggest that if same-sex marriage becomes a reality, polarization on both matters is likely mutually reinforcing, in the sense that polarization of attitudes toward marriage will intensify polarization of attitudes toward immigration and vice versa, with several important social consequences.
Notes
*Minus IRCA legalizations in years after 1988.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, Citation2004.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, Citation2004.
χ2 = 40.327, df = 8, p < .0001.
Source: General Social Survey, 2004.