Recognizing Ourselves: Ceremonies of Lesbian and Gay Commitment
In April 1993, as part of the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, hundreds of couples participated in "the Wedding," a symbolic commitment ceremony held in front of the Internal Revenue Service building. Part protest and part affirmation of devotion, the event was a reminder that marriage rights have become a major issue among lesbians and gay men, who cannot marry legally and can only claim domestic partner rights in a few locations in the United States....
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Lewin explores the intersections of kinship, community, morality, and love bound up in same-sex marriage through the experiences of lesbian and gay couples who have sanctified their relationships in commitment ceremonies. Through detailed profiles, Lewin provides the first comprehensive account of lesbian and gay weddings in America. Evan Wolfson As gay people advance toward sharing in the freedom to marry that our non-gay brothers and sisters take for granted, this book is a rich reminder that at the heart of the civil rights struggle are the couples themselves. . . . Lewin's account helps explain why gay couples will win the freedom to marry, and the sky won't fall.
\ San Francisco Bay TimesNot a how-to guide, but rather profiles and portraits of same-sex marriages intertwined with the surrounding politics.\ \ \ \ \ \ Esther NewtonIn the best tradition of public, thought-provoking, and accessible anthropology pioneered by Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict, this elegantly written account of gay and lesbian marriage ceremonies brings both empathy and discernment to bear on queer culture and politics in the making. Interweaving moving narratives and rituals with wide ranging cultural criticism, Lewin provides an analytic frame for understanding American culture´s evolving values about kinship, love, and commitment.\ \ \ Kath WestonA sensitive treatment of the cultural issues associated with the debate on gay marriage. Lewin does an exceptional job of conveying why weddings -those most ordinary of extraordinary rituals -should have become so compelling to a wide range of lesbians and gay men.\ \ \ \ \ ChoiceLesbian and gay commitment ceremonies are shown to dramatize key issues not only in their culture but also in the wider American culture. Written in a nonscientific but professional manner, the book offers further stimulus for a change in laws to provide legal recognition for same-sex marriages.\ \ \ \ \ Evan WolfsonAs gay people advance toward sharing in the freedom to marry that our non-gay brothers and sisters take for granted, this book is a rich reminder that at the heart of the civil rights struggle are the couples themselves. . . . Lewin's account helps explain why gay couples will win the freedom to marry, and the sky won't fall.\ \ \ \ \ San Francisco Bay TimesNot a how-to guide, but rather profiles and portraits of same-sex marriages intertwined with the surrounding politics.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalLewin (Inventing Lesbian Cultures in America, Beacon, 1996), who describes herself as a "married lesbian," seeks to "fashion a cultural understanding of lesbian and gay weddings as powerful and complex ritual occasions." Her book opens with a discussion of the current legal and political status of same-sex marriage but focuses mostly on individual commitment ceremonies and the analysis of how these rituals relate to the themes of tradition, family, community, authenticity, and resistance. As opposed to many recent books, e.g., Becky Butler's Ceremonies of the Heart: Celebrating Lesbian Unions (Seal Pr.-Feminist, 1997), meant to help couples design their own ceremonies, this work is a scholarly, anthropological analysis of the ceremonies themselves. As legalizing same-sex marriage is currently being hotly debated, this work provides an important look at the meaning of the ceremonies for those involved. Recommended for academic libraries.Debra Moore, Loyola Marymount Univ. Lib., Los Angeles\ \ \ \ \ BooknewsLewin (anthropology and women's studies, U. of Iowa), a lesbian who has been through a commitment ceremony with her partner, uses numerous profiles to provide an in-depth account of lesbian and gay weddings in America. She examines the legal, ethnic, social, psychological, and political issues involved in individual ceremonies, including several large events such as the April 1993 National March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation and the mass lesbian and gay marriage in San Francisco in March of 1996. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.\ \
