Queer Family Values
Search in google:
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction11Rights, Freedom and the Limits of Inclusion142Are We Family?433Radical Democracy and Queer Identity774Social Problems and Family Ideology1065Who Are "Our" Children?1396Creating the Conditions For Freedom in Private Life168Notes177References189Index203
\ Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly\ Undertaking a comprehensive survey of conservative arguments against lesbian and gay rights, Lehr--a political analyst and professor of gender studies at St. Lawrence University--offers a counter-analysis and critiques the response of the mainstream gay rights movement to conservative views. Her study draws upon a wide range of sources, including Supreme Court decisions, mainstream journalism, the perspectives of radical gay political activists in ACT UP and Queer Nation, gay theorists such as Nancy Polikoff and Andrew Sullivan and such political commentators as Betty Friedan and Christopher Lasch. Throughout, Lehr cogently argues that the "traditional" concepts of marriage, family, gender roles and sexuality that conservatives are trying to defend are unstable and often detrimental to those involved. In response, she postulates a new "radical democratic politics" that would "not bring the state into people's lives, but use state power to enable citizens to have the resources that they need to make real choices." In large part, this new politic is based on alternative models of family, kinship and sexual relationships pioneered by gay men and lesbians. Lehr's critique of gay marriage may anger mainstream supporters of gay rights legislation, and her views on how to integrate gay children and teens into the gay community may provoke even liberal readers. While much of the book is an explication of political and social theory, Lehr's prescriptions for implementing her ideas are often concrete and practical. (July) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalAs gays and lesbians call for the right to marry legally, Lehr (government/gender studies, St. Lawrence Univ.) suggests that the right to marry and its consequent economic benefits are inappropriate goals. She questions whether benefits such as healthcare should be based on marital status at all, arguing that seeking to assimilate into the heterosexual community by imitating the traditional nuclear family will limit the freedom of gays and lesbians who do not wish to live in a monogamous "marriage." Lehr believes that the norms of the dominant culture fail to reflect the many ways families may be constituted, especially in minority communities. She calls on the gay community to challenge current sexual and family norms and create a new vision of family built around "care" rather than biology, sexual relationships, or rights. Interesting but very dense reading; recommended for academic libraries.--Debra Moore, Loyola Marymount Univ. Lib., Los Angeles Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.\ \
