Marriage Equality

June 22, 2020
Law scholars Eskridge (Interpreting Law) and Riano document the legal, political, and religious arguments for and against same-sex marriage, as well as stories of gay couples who fought for their relationships to be legally recognized, in this comprehensive history of the battle for equal marriage rights in America. The authors begin with the origins of the gay rights movement, including the Mattachine Society’s “constitutional vision of homophile rights, grounded on the maxim ‘Gay is Good,’ ” and the 1969 Stonewall riots. They scrutinize milestone legal cases and legislation, including the Supreme Court’s first same-sex marriage case in 1972, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, and the overturning of California’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in 2010. Intersections between the gay rights, women’s liberation, and civil rights movements are highlighted, as are the impact of the AIDS crisis on perceptions of the gay community. The sheer volume of information (including a six-page glossary of terms and acronyms) staggers, and lay readers may find play-by-play descriptions of legal battles a bit of a grind. Still, Eskridge and Riano lighten the proceedings with a playful sense of humor and portraits of the people behind the lawsuits. LGBTQ allies and legal students will be rewarded by the impressive survey of how far the gay rights movement has come.

Starred review from August 1, 2020

Eskridge (Yale Law Sch.) and Riano (law, Columbia Univ.) have written a comprehensive account of the long struggle for same-sex marriage. Though ostensibly a legal history, this work is much more than that as the authors interweave stories of people, some well-known, others not, into a compelling narrative. Included are conflicts over the various propositions that tried to overturn marriage equality, including California's notorious Proposition 8. Following early attempts at civil unions and rights came Hawaii's pioneering supreme court case granting same-sex marriage. After that, came pushback via the Defense of Marriage Act. Finally, in 2015, Obergefell v. Hodges granted marriage equality throughout the United States. Eskridge and Riano take the story of growing LGBTQ acceptance into the present, taking note of ongoing issues surrounding marriage equality. Most notably, they draw attention to the questions such as whether or not a business can have a religious exemption for providing a service for a same-sex couple. VERDICT Though lengthy, the work is beautifully and accessibly written. Both general and academic readers will appreciate its comprehensiveness as well as its attention to the human side of the story. An essential work.--David Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.