As the twentieth century drew to a close a number of U.S. states began allowing marriage-like protections for same-sex couples. This change was only one of many markers that marriage and family were being called into question. During the previous decades Americans lived through rapid social change around the structure of the family unit and witnessed increasing legal recognition of diverse family forms. The purpose of this project is to ask if access to marriage for same-sex couples is a break from “Old-fashioned, traditional, family values” and a sign of the demise of the social institution of marriage or if the extension of marriage access marks the strengthening and resurgence of a potentially problematic and perhaps outdated social institution. To respond the question I consider both what marriage means to same-sex couples and their families and what the expanded access to marriage means for our society as a whole. The project included a two-phase research design with interviews and a web-based survey to understand the beliefs, attitudes and practices of respondent couples in light of the many and different legal protections, social practices, and public policies that exist today.