It can be, and it often is, but it's not because it is ontologically bourgeois or reactionary, rather it's because hegemonic ideology will grab onto every institution found in human life and ascribe it's values to it, turning it into a normalizing force that self-enforces itself in order to support the power relations that led to it existing in the first place, as is the case of marriage reinforcing the patriarchy and heteronormativity which led to marriage existing in turn.
This is a good starting point! There's also no shame in reading annotated versions, where more accessible authors elaborate on the ideas present in the text. I can't recommend any in English because I've only read Gramsci in Spanish and Italian, but I'm sure there must be good translations of him in English, maybe even by 's dad.
Sorry, but I can't help you there… My philosophy professor just gave us photocopies of a book he knew was good, and I have no way of tracking those down.
Read my response to dannoffs' comment… I haven't read Gramsci in English, so I can't recommend any annotated versions, but starting with those maybe selected around a single topic (Gramsci tended to go all over the place in the notebooks a bit) could help.
It can be, and it often is, but it's not because it is ontologically bourgeois or reactionary, rather it's because hegemonic ideology will grab onto every institution found in human life and ascribe it's values to it, turning it into a normalizing force that self-enforces itself in order to support the power relations that led to it existing in the first place, as is the case of marriage reinforcing the patriarchy and heteronormativity which led to marriage existing in turn.
Gramsci lays out in a great way how hegemony coopts institutions and human life 
Do have any beginner reading you'd recommend of Gramsci? I got the first volume of the Prison Notebooks, but it was a bit out of my league.
The prison notebooks are the bulk of his available work. I'd say read one of the "selections from Gramsci's prison notebooks" books.
This is a good starting point! There's also no shame in reading annotated versions, where more accessible authors elaborate on the ideas present in the text. I can't recommend any in English because I've only read Gramsci in Spanish and Italian, but I'm sure there must be good translations of him in English, maybe even by 's dad.
Can you recommend some of the Spanish ones?
Sorry, but I can't help you there… My philosophy professor just gave us photocopies of a book he knew was good, and I have no way of tracking those down.
Read my response to dannoffs' comment… I haven't read Gramsci in English, so I can't recommend any annotated versions, but starting with those maybe selected around a single topic (Gramsci tended to go all over the place in the notebooks a bit) could help.