The Engagement America's Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage

by Issenberg, Sasha

• ISBN13: 9781524748739
• ISBN10: 1524748730
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2021-06-01
• Publisher: Pantheon

Summary

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • The riveting story of the conflict over same-sex marriage in the United States—the most significant civil rights breakthrough of the new millennium

"Full of intimate details, battling personalities, heated court cases, public persuasion.”  —John Williams, The New York Times

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state bans on gay marriage were unconstitutional, making same-sex unions legal across the United States. But the road to that momentous decision was much longer than many know. In this definitive account, Sasha Issenberg vividly guides us through same-sex marriage’s unexpected path from the unimaginable to the inevitable.

It is a story that begins in Hawaii in 1990, when a rivalry among local activists triggered a sequence of events that forced the state to justify excluding gay couples from marriage. In the White House, one president signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which elevated the matter to a national issue, and his successor tried to write it into the Constitution. Over twenty-five years, the debate played out across the country, from the first legal same-sex weddings in Massachusetts to the epic face-off over California’s Proposition 8 and, finally, to the landmark Supreme Court decisions of United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges. From churches to hedge funds, no corner of American life went untouched.

This richly detailed narrative follows the coast-to-coast conflict through courtrooms and war rooms, bedrooms and boardrooms, to shed light on every aspect of a political and legal controversy that divided Americans like no other. Following a cast of characters that includes those who sought their own right to wed, those who fought to protect the traditional definition of marriage, and those who changed their minds about it, The Engagement is certain to become a seminal book on the modern culture wars.

Author Biography

SASHA ISSENBERG is the author of three previous books, including The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns. He has covered presidential elections as a national political reporter in the Washington bureau of The Boston Globe, a columnist for Slate, and a contributor to Bloomberg Politics and Businessweek. He is the Washington correspondent at Monocle, and his work has also appeared in New York, The New York Times Magazine, and George, where he served as a contributing editor. He teaches in the political-science department at UCLA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A President Decides 3
 
PART ONE: THE LOVE THAT ATE AN ISLAND (1990–1996)
1. Seeking License 21
2. Only One Man Marching 32
3. A Distinct Civil-Liberties Question 45
4. Rolling the Dice 55
5. Gay Mafia 60
6. Making the Case 63
7. Baehr v. Lewin 69
8. A Chickenskin Moment 78
9. Shoals of Time 84
 
PART TWO: INVENTING A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS (1996)
10. Wardle’s Run 93
11. Dominos at the Barn Door 99
12. A Message from the Presidency 104
13. Apostles 108
14. Hawaii’s Future Today 115
15. Kickoff 124
16. Don & Bob 131
17. The Law Man 141
18. How a Grievance Becomes a Bill 151
 
PART THREE: INSIDE GAMES (1996)
19. March On, Washington 161
20. Fights of the Roundtable 168
21. Waiting for a Nightmare 176
22. The Rebrander and the Firebrand 182
23. Smooth Sailing 192
24. Endangered Liaisons 199
25. Two Weeks in May 204
26. Dear Friends 212
27. An Election-Year Baseball Bat 217
28. When the Deal Goes Down 221
29. Midnight Cowboy 231
30. Trial at Honolulu 238
 
PART FOUR: THE SECOND FRONT (1997–2003)
31. Shameless Agitator 247
32. Queer Town Meetings 255
33. Marriage 101 263
34. Anything But the Slam-Dunk Cases 268
35. Baker v. State 273
36. The Remedy 281
37. Scenes from a Civil Union 286
38. Down from the Mountains 295
39. The Next Town Over 301
40. Goodridge 306
 
PART FIVE: “OUR TEAM IS NOT WINNING” (2003–2004)
41. We’re the Marriage People 315
42. A Sense of Where the Culture Is Headed 324
43. Enemy of the Good 332
44. Marriage Movements 340
45. Wise as Serpents 346
46. Dueling Amendments 356
47. Lawlessness 366
48. Issue One 377
 
PART SIX: TWENTY TEN TEN TEN (2003–2007)
49. When You’re Living Through It 387
50. Paul Revere Rides In 390
51. Speaking for the Silent Majority 401
52. Clear It with Evan 409
53. Organization Man 417
54. Mining the Foundations 422
55. Outgiving 427
56. Clarity of Coalition 432
57. After the Bloodbath 443
58. Punish the Wicked 451
59. Let California Ring 462
 
PART SEVEN: THE RIGHT’S LAST STAND (2007–2008)
60. It Came from San Diego 469
61. Little Kingdoms 473
62. God’s Way of Bringing People Together 478
63. Nassau Street 483
64. To the Ballot 490
65. Amen Brothers 495
66. The Mormon Empire Strikes Back 499
67. Proposition 8 507
 
PART EIGHT: THE ROAD FROM JERSEY CITY (2009–2012)
68. Whodunit 515
69. Meet in the Middle 521
70. Gathering Storm 527
71. Up Against the Wall 532
72. Roadmap 539
73. For Better or for Worse 546
74. Money Talks in New York 555
75. A Grave Price 566
76. Campaign in a Box 573
77. Land Rush to the Ballot 583
78. Conversation and Inoculation 590
79. Four Ballots 599
 
PART NINE: ENDGAME (2009–2015)
80. Dooming DOMA 617
81. Dave & Ted’s Excellent Adventure 623
82. Duty to Defend 635
83. Facts of the Matter 643
84. Appealing Stuff 653
85. Inaction Hero 661
86. Leading from Behind 672
87. In the Shadow of Lady Liberty 683
88. Shotgun Wedding 699
89. And Then There Were Nine 706
90. Blinding Times 712
91. When the Dam Breaks 719
92. Once and for All 729
Coda: Back to Hawaii 737
Postscript: Massive Desistance 754
 
Acknowledgments 763
A Note on Sources 767
Notes 769
Index 871