Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage

Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage
Author :
Publisher : Beacon Press
Total Pages : 284
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0807044326
ISBN-13 : 9780807044322
Rating : 4/5 (322 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage by : Nancy D. Polikoff

Download or read book Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage written by Nancy D. Polikoff and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of the Queer Ideas series, edited by Michael Bronski QUEER IDEAS-a new series of LGBT hardcovers that address important intellectual questions facing the movement. The debate over marriage equality for same-sex couples rages across the country. Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage boldly moves the discussion forward by focusing on the larger, more fundamental issue of marriage and the law. The root problem, asserts law professor and LGBT rights activist Nancy Polikoff, is that marriage is a bright dividing line between those relationships that legally matter and those that don't. A woman married to a man for nine months is entitled to Social Security survivor's benefits when he dies; a woman living for nineteen years with a man or woman to whom she is not married receives nothing. Polikoff reframes the debate by arguing that all family relationships and households need the economic stability and emotional peace of mind that now extend only to married couples. Unmarried couples of any sexual orientation, single-parent households, extended family units, and myriad other familial configurations need recognition and protection to meet the concerns they all share: building and sustaining economic and emotional interdependence, and nurturing the next generation. Couples should have the choice to marry based on the spiritual, cultural, or religious meaning of marriage in their lives, asserts Polikoff. While marriage equality for same-sex couples is a civil rights victory, she contends that no one should have to marry in order to reap specific and unique legal results. A persuasive argument that married couples should not receive special rights denied to other families, Polikoff shows how the law can value all families, and why it must. "A much-needed intervention in the contemporary debate about marriage and family. Polikoff's argument is provocative, illuminating, and original." -John D'Emilio, author of Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin "Polikoff mobilizes an impressive array of legal history and contemporary court cases to show how marriage, whether same-sex or heterosexual, has ceased to be the only place where people incur long-term obligations. She argues vigorously that our society needs to find new ways of determining when legally-enforceable responsibilities and entitlements have accrued in interpersonal relationships." -Stephanie Coontz, author, Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage "This book really matters. It is brilliant and thoughtful, not simply about a set of laws, but as a manifesto to transform the way we understand, recognize and respect the reality of our diverse and complex family compositions. Polikoff grounds her arguments in the 35 year history of social change activism in this country to construct a passionate and nuanced argument for expanding our same sex marriage activism to include all of the ways people love, form families and build community." -Amber Hollibaugh, Senior Strategist, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and author of My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming her Way Home "Passionate but completely grounded in reality, Polikoff challenges LGBT rights advocates to see beyond gay equality arguments and question the fundamental fairness of limiting family recognition based on marriage, gay or straight. It is a powerful call for social justice." -Nan D. Hunter, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project and Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School "A provocative and perspicuous intervention in one of the most devilish recent debates in U.S. law and politicshellip;In a principled yet pragmatic analysis, Polikoff mounts a compelling case against the continued grip of 'conjugalism'on our family law and policy. Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage challenges us


Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage Related Books

Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage
Language: en
Pages: 284
Authors: Nancy D. Polikoff
Categories: Family & Relationships
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008 - Publisher: Beacon Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Part of the Queer Ideas series, edited by Michael Bronski QUEER IDEAS-a new series of LGBT hardcovers that address important intellectual questions facing the m
God Believes in Love
Language: en
Pages: 210
Authors: Gene Robinson
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-06-04 - Publisher: Vintage

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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 reli
Scared Straight
Language: en
Pages: 226
Authors: Robert Neil Minor
Categories: Gays
Type: BOOK - Published: 2001 - Publisher: Humanityworks

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Argues that people of all sexual orientations are hurt by being "straight", torn from their full human potential, and squeezed into molds that support our domin
Queer Studies
Language: en
Pages: 544
Authors: Bruce Henderson
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019 - Publisher: Harrington Park Press, LLC

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Queer Studies is designed as an advanced undergraduate textbook in queer studies for this rapidly growing field. It is also appropriate as a required or recomme
Gay Marriage
Language: en
Pages: 224
Authors: Jonathan Rauch
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-02-01 - Publisher: Macmillan

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A leading Washington journalist argues that gay marriage is the best way to preserve and protect society's most essential institution Two people meet and fall i