Fierce and sometimes ugly battles are being waged, especially in America, over who is allowed to marry, and what marriage signifies. By examining these debates and the data from over seventy interviews, Kathleen Hull explores the phenomenon of same-sex marriage in the contemporary US context. Hull describes how same-sex couples use marriage-related cultural practices such as public commitment rituals to assert the reality of their commitments, explores why same-sex couples are interested in obtaining legal recognition for these commitments and examines why this is so threatening to their fellow citizens.