Equality Practice

by Eskridge, William N., Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780415930727
• ISBN10: 0415930723
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-12-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In April of 2000, Vermont legalized civil unions for same-sex couples, a landmark for gay rights. But would this consign couples to a "separate but equal" status that would ultimately prove unequal? No, argues Equality Practice, showing why lesbians and gays should support compromises like Vermont's law without giving up on full formal equality. Equality in practice will not only deliver the legal rights and duties same-sex couples need -- tax benefits, health insurance, property rights, and parental arrangements -- but also will help create conditions under which lesbians and gay men are more likely to win fully equal treatment of their relationships by the state. Book jacket.

Author Biography

William N. Eskridge, Jr. is the John A. Garver Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and author of the landmark book The Case for Same Sex Marriage. His last book, Gaylaw, won the 2001 American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Book Award

Table of Contents

Prologue and Acknowledgments	ix
Same-Sex Marriage and the Politics of Sexuality	1	(42)
The Vermont Civil Unions Law	43	(40)
Comparative Law Lessons for the Same-Sex Marriage Movement	83	(44)
Civil Unions and Liberal Jurisprudence: Equality Practice	127	(32)
Equality Practice and the Civic Republic	159	(38)
Equality Practice as a Postmodern Cultural Form	197	(34)
Epilogue Equality Practice, the Evolution of Social Norms, and the Future of Gay Rights	231	(12)
Notes	243	(26)
Index	269