Why You Should Give a Damn about Gay Marriage

Why You Should Give a Damn about Gay Marriage
Author: Davina Kotulski
Publisher: Alyson Publications
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2004
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781555838737

A provocative study of the controversial issue of gay marriage outlines the rights, benefits, and protections that are not available to gays and lesbians as long as they do not have the right to marry and argues that an organized activist movement is essential to bring about change in the United States. Original.

Why Marriage

Why Marriage
Author: George Chauncey
Publisher:
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2005-12-13
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9780465009589

Showing how the present is shaped by the past, the author of "Gay New York" explains why the campaign for same-sex marriage has become the most explosive issue in the long struggle for gay rights.

Defending Same-Sex Marriage

Defending Same-Sex Marriage
Author: Martin Dupuis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 887
Release: 2006-12-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0313054215

Today we find ourselves at a crossroads of two powerful, unrelenting currents that are completely at odds with one another. The movement for legal recognition of same-sex unions has gone beyond the separate but equal status of civil unions to demand equality in marriage for all couples. Progress is being made on many fronts: mayoral action, clergy officiating at same-sex marriage and union ceremonies, state legislative responses, and street protests, to name a few. Meanwhile, opposition to same-sex marriage has also been gathering strength. The struggle is sure to continue unabated for some time to come, pitting those who believe in the traditional definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman—and who seek to codify this belief in the U.S. Constitution—against those who find the basis for marriage between two loving, committed individuals not only in the history of our civil rights legislation and court decisions, but also in scripture and sacred religious traditions. Those who believe in extending to same-sex couples the 1,049 rights conferred by marriage as well as the supportive embrace of religious communities seek to strengthen the institution of marriage by making it inclusive and by passing laws and broadening doctrines to uphold marriage rights for all couples. This three-volume set clarifies the legal, political, religious, cultural, and social ramifications of same-sex marriage for gay and lesbian couples and their families and friends, and for the general public interested in the future of civil rights in the United States.

Gay Marriage, Real Life

Gay Marriage, Real Life
Author: Michelle Bates Deakin
Publisher: Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2006
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1558964916

Ten stories from same-sex couples in the United States.

Same-Sex Marriage

Same-Sex Marriage
Author: David E. Newton
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2016-09-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 144085050X

Same-sex marriage continues to be a polarizing subject in the United States and other parts of the world. This new edition of Same-Sex Marriage: A Reference Handbook brings readers up to date on the status of same-sex unions from social, legal, political, and historical perspectives. According to Pew Research poll data, in 2001, the majority of Americans opposed same-sex marriage—57 percent against, 35 percent in support. As of 2015, a majority of Americans (55 percent) supported same-sex marriage, with 39 percent expressing opposition. The landmark Obergefell v. Hodges case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 5–4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples, is likely further influencing opinions among U.S. citizens. Still, controversy and heated debate continues to ensue on the social, legal, and political implications of same-sex marriage. The second edition of Same-Sex Marriage: A Reference Handbook presents thorough coverage of recent changes in the legal status of same-sex marriage in the United States as well as essays that provide historical perspectives on same-sex marriage; an extensive, up-to-date bibliography; a collection of primary source documents; a glossary; and a chronology that will serve readers studying the topic. New material includes a detailed discussion of the 2015 Supreme Court of the United States decision as well as coverage of issues that have arisen as a result of the Obergefell case, such as the debate over "religious freedom" and LGBT civil rights legislation.

Queering Marriage

Queering Marriage
Author: Katrina Kimport
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2013-11-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0813562236

Over four thousand gay and lesbian couples married in the city of San Francisco in 2004. The first large-scale occurrence of legal same-sex marriage, these unions galvanized a movement and reignited the debate about whether same-sex marriage, as some hope, challenges heterosexual privilege or, as others fear, preserves that privilege by assimilating queer couples. In Queering Marriage, Katrina Kimport uses in-depth interviews with participants in the San Francisco weddings to argue that same-sex marriage cannot be understood as simply entrenching or contesting heterosexual privilege. Instead, she contends, these new legally sanctioned relationships can both reinforce as well as disrupt the association of marriage and heterosexuality. During her deeply personal conversations with same-sex spouses, Kimport learned that the majority of respondents did characterize their marriages as an opportunity to contest heterosexual privilege. Yet, in a seeming contradiction, nearly as many also cited their desire for access to the normative benefits of matrimony, including social recognition and legal rights. Kimport’s research revealed that the pattern of ascribing meaning to marriage varied by parenthood status and, in turn, by gender. Lesbian parents were more likely to embrace normative meanings for their unions; those who are not parents were more likely to define their relationships as attempts to contest dominant understandings of marriage. By posing the question—can queers “queer” marriage?—Kimport provides a nuanced, accessible, and theoretically grounded framework for understanding the powerful effect of heterosexual expectations on both sexual and social categories.

Love Warriors

Love Warriors
Author: Davina Kotulski
Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2010-09-23
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9781453639719

Love Warriors is a comprehensive reader on the same-sex marriage movement, outlining the rights, benefits and protections marriage provides and the real-life harm caused by marriage discrimination. Kotulski affirms that advancing equality for LGBT people is part of the American legacy of expanding human rights and upholding cherished values. Love Warriors is perfect for veteran supporters and those still on the fence. "Love Warriors illustrates how society is best served when all loving couples who want to settle down are all able to do so through the civil institution of marriage." -Mark Leno, California Leader "Love Warriors is powerful and educates us to see our common humanity. Equality in marriage is a human rights issue. Read this book and get engaged for justice!" -Dolores Huerta, Civil Rights Leader and Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers "Evolve toward a more enlightened understanding of marriage equality." -Shefali Tsabary, Ph.D., author, The Conscious Parent "A must-read for anyone concerned about equality and justice. If you aren't a Love Warrior before reading this book, you will be when you're done." -Ed Fallon, Former Iowa State Represenative "If you want your opinions about the most important social issue of our time based on reason and facts this book is your MUST READ." -Don Clark, Ph.D. author, Loving Someone Gay

God Believes in Love

God Believes in Love
Author: Gene Robinson
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2013-06-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0307948099

From the IX Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church, the first openly gay person elected to the episcopate and the world’s leading religious spokesperson for gay rights and gay marriage—a groundbreaking book that persuasively makes the case for same-sex marriage using a commonsense, reasoned, religious argument. Robinson holds the religious text of the Bible to be holy and sacred and the ensuing two millennia of church history to be relevant to the discussion. He is equally familiar with the secular and political debate about gay marriage going on in America today, and is someone for whom same-sex marriage is a personal issue; Robinson was married to a woman for fourteen years and is a father of two children and has been married to a man for the last four years of a twenty-five-year relationship. Robinson has a knack for taking complex and controversial issues and addressing them in plain direct language, without using polemics or ideology, putting forth his argument for gay marriage, and bringing together sacred and secular points of view.

Answering Back

Answering Back
Author: David Coates
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2009-12-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1441126937

Helps progressives respond to the current sustained right-wing criticism of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, in a book that focuses on eight areas of debate, including welfare reform, social security, universal health care, immigration control, the financial meltdown, the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan and more. Original.

Same-Sex Marriage

Same-Sex Marriage
Author: Tricia Andryszewski
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2011-08-01
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN: 0761380760

Same-sex marriage is a sharply divisive issue in the United States. Yet in the twenty-first century, cities and states across the nation are beginning to make available a range of legal options for same-sex couples who want to make a commitment to each other. These options include domestic partnership, civil union, and marriage. Advocates in favor of legal marriage point to the many benefits that come with the institution of marriage: tax advantages, adoption and inheritance rights, health-care protections, and general social recognition. Opponents, on the other hand, believe that marriage is an institution reserved for one man and one woman. Making sense of the debate involves asking tough questions: • Do all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, have a right to legal marriage? • What are the benefits and disadvantages of allowing same-sex couples to marry? • Does same-sex marriage threaten or strengthen families? • Should U.S. courts or the American voting public make the final determination about same-sex marriage? To answer these questions, this book examines the history of the gay rights movement in the United States and the struggle for equal protection under the law, including the right for same-sex couples to marry. It provides the opinions and perspectives of leaders, activists, politicians, and ordinary Americans on both sides of the issue. Supplemented with quotes, anecdotes, and discussions from the pages of USA TODAY, The Nation's No. 1 Newspaper, this book will broaden your understanding of all sides of the issue and help you form your own opinion, either for or against same-sex marriage.