Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry
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"At its core, the freedom-to-marry movement is about the same thing every civil rights struggle has been about: taking seriously our country's promise to be a nation its citizens can make better, its promise to be a place where people don't have to give up their differences or hide them in order to be treated equally." Why Marriage Matters offers a compelling, intelligently reasoned discussion of a question at the forefront of our national consciousness. It is the work of one of the most influential attorneys in America, who has dedicated his life to the protection of individuals' rights and our Constitution's commitment to equal justice under the law. Above all, it is a clear, straightforward book that brings into sharp focus the very human significance of the right to marry in America -- not just for some couples, but for all. Why is the word marriage so important? Will marriage for same-sex couples hurt the "sanctity" of the institution? How can people of different faiths reconcile their beliefs with the idea of marriage for same-sex couples? How will allowing gay couples to marry affect children? In this quietly powerful volume, the most authoritative and fairly articulated book on the subject, Wolfson demonstrates why the right to marry is important -- indeed necessary -- for all couples and for America's promise of equality. Publishers Weekly A nationally renowned attorney and director of Freedom to Marry, Wolfson hails the movement for marriage equality as "one of the first important civil rights campaigns of the 21st century" and grounds support for it within the logic of the long-established protest traditions in U.S. history: abolition, the women's suffrage movement and the racial equality movements of the 1950s and '60s. Unlike those who support gay marriage as a way to regulate what they see as the self-destructive sexual practices of homosexuals (David Brooks, Jonathan Rauch, Andrew Sullivan), Wolfson sidelines the issue of morality and discusses the right to marry as part of each citizen's inalienable claim to what the Declaration of Independence calls the "pursuit of happiness." Framing his argument strictly in terms of civil rights and grounding it in conventional definitions of the public significance of marriage, Wolfson is refreshing, smart, thorough and easy to follow. Most provocatively, Wolfson excises "gay marriage" from the debate entirely, writing that the term "impl[ies] that same-sex couples are asking for rights and privileges that married couples do not have, or for rights that are something lesser or different from what non-gay couples have. In fact, we don't want `gay marriage,' we want marriage." For now, it is available in Boston. Agent, Fred Morris for the Jed Mattes Agency. (Aug. 1) Forecast: Wolfson was named one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by Time in April. He will do a six-city tour. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Ch. 1What is marriage?1Ch. 2Why now?19Ch. 3Will allowing gay couples to marry harm society?51Ch. 4Isn't marriage for procreation?73Ch. 5What about the children?85Ch. 6Isn't marriage a religious matter?103Ch. 7Why not use another word?123Ch. 8Will marriages in one state be honored in others?145Ch. 9Is marriage equality a question of civil rights?159Ch. 10Why the freedom to marry matters to me183App. ABig questions, short answers189App. BDiscrimination : protections denied to same-sex couples and their kids194App. CGetting involved198App. DWorking together208
