“She Didn't Bat an Eye”: Canadian Same-Sex Wedding Planning and Support from the Wedding Industry

ABSTRACT

Guided by ecological systems theory, this qualitative study describes 28 individuals' experiences with the wedding industry, government agencies, and religious institutions as they planned their weddings. Participants (20 lesbians, seven gay men, and one bisexual man—representing 14 couples) lived in Nova Scotia and had married within five years of same-sex marriage being legalized in Canada. They were 26 to 72 years old (average: 49 years) when interviewed and had been with their partners between six months and 19 years (average: 7.5 years) when they married. Exosystem-level support was experienced for the most part with various wedding-related businesses and services, with participants seldom experiencing overt homophobia or heterosexism. However, some complex examples of support and opposition occurred in churches, and vigilance was still present in how some couples planned parts of their weddings to avoid anticipated homophobia or heterosexism, with one couple even leaving Canada to marry. Such behaviors are reflective of the minority stress lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals continue to experience even in a sociopolitical environment in which structural legal discrimination no longer exists.

KEYWORDS:

• Canada
• ecological systems theory
• heteronormativity
• religion
• same-sex marriage
• weddings

Notes

Individuals were interviewed separately because of an additional research question (not addressed in this paper), which examined each person's contributions to the wedding planning.