Rights of Love: the State and Intimate Relationships in Canada and the United States

This article puzzles through the contrasts and paradoxes arisingfrom state practices of relationship recognition in Canada andthe United States. In the Canadian case, the focus is on theassignment of legal status to common-law relationships, regardlessof whether the parties to the relationship desire that status.In the United States, in contrast, legislative attention hasbeen directed at the reinforcement of heterosexual marriage.These differing postures provoke questions regarding the rolesof intimate relationships in governing projects. In particular,what do these postures mean for the autonomy of individualsto construct their personal lives and how do they complicatethe designation "neoliberal" to Canadian and US regimes of governance.