What works
I cropped what you see above from an infographic that is part of GOOD magazine’s infographic section called Transparency. If you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend it.
This was the strongest part of the graphic. It does a masterful job of elegantly illustrating a relationship both in space and time. We see that in 1998 hardly any states cared enough about gay marriage to have banned it or legalized it or had any kind of vote whatsoever. Except Alaska. Hello, Palin family. By 2004 the issue had hit the big time and gay marriage bans blanketed about half the country. The east coast showed signs of tolerance. Finally, in 2009, the east coast is holding out against a national tendency towards homophobia. Iowa surprises many by legalizing gay marriage.
What needs work
Please click through to the larger graphic. I feel that the map time series is by far the strongest part of the graphic. Perhaps because it is so elegantly simple, it was shrunk and deposited in the lower right corner.
References
Porostocky, Thomas. (2009) A History of Gay Marriage in Transparency, a section of GOOD magazine published out of New York and Los Angeles.
Comments 3
Doug — December 10, 2009
why is Mass not a rainbowish color in 2004?
Maxwell — December 19, 2009
I came across this animated graphic about same sex marriage protections and rights over time: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-gmtimeline-fl,0,5345296.htmlstory.
I can see why you cropped that one section as I was pretty overwhelmed with the entire graphical representation of the state of same sex marriage. But I thought that the animated graphic from the LA Times was a better and effective way of illustrating not only the differences in rights and protections of same sex couples, but also the political changes affecting marriage laws over time in particular with California's flip-flop status.
By the way, I love this site and the work that you do! Cheers!
Gay Marriage and the Social Construction of Social “Problems” » Sociological Images — January 12, 2010
[...] figure below, borrowed from Good via Graphic Sociology, is a great example of the way that social problems are not given or automatic, but must be made. [...]