Marriage and the homosexual body: it's about race

Any analogy between race and homosexuality cannot erase the fact that skin color has marked and continues to mark bodies for special punishment and necessary protection. Yet, the analogy has also been forged in the struggles against sexual discrimination and in the courts to recognize same-sex marriage as a basic civil right. My purposes here are, first, to review the role the race-sexual orientation analogy has played in same-sex marriage debates, second to examine the analogy within the context of race and queer theories and, finally, to suggest a racial dimension to sexuality that marks the homosexual body.