Motivating factors to participate or not participate in the 2004 San Francisco gay marriage ceremonies

In February 2004, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom authorized the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Nearly 4,000 couples were married before the California Supreme Court stopped the event in March 2004. Using unstructured formal interviews, 36 subjects who were in committed same-sex relationships were interviewed to determine what motivated them to participate in the ceremonies or forego participation. The resulting data were analyzed using grounded theory methodology and revealed multiple substantive theories. The data also suggest a formal theory appropriate for future research.; Subjects participated in the 2004 ceremonies because it was a historical civil rights event that afforded an opportunity to claim the same social status and legal and economic rights enjoyed by their heterosexual counterparts. Participating in the ceremonies provided entry to the socially esteemed institution of marriage, which had heretofore been denied. They saw an opportunity for equality and they grabbed it.; Most subjects who did not participate in the ceremonies were deterred by the legal uncertainty surrounding the marriages. The legal and economic risks associated with the legally questionable marriages made many people choose to forego participation in the ceremonies. Also, while many ceremony participants were drawn to the civil rights nature of the event, some nonparticipants were deterred by this same characteristic. The impromptu and impersonal event did not correspond with internalized images of their own wedding.; Some people chose to not participate because they do not share society's esteemed meaning of marriage. The data clearly reflect the importance of one's internalized meaning of marriage in the decision to participate or not participate. However, all subjects supported the event as a means to greater social equality for gay men and lesbians. In this regard, claiming the right to marry was a means toward broader equality, which would relieve marginalization, a concept shared by other psychological and social arenas.; Same-sex marriage continues to be an emerging social issue warranting research. Both the acceptance of and resistance to same-sex marriage provides an important basis for research on related social issues of marginalization and the psychological impact on same-sex relationships.