Cambridge University Press America's War on Same-Sex Couples and their Families: And How the Courts Rescued Them

Product Description America's War on Same-Sex Couples and Their Families is a legal, political, and social history of constitutional amendments in twenty American states (with 43 percent of the nation's population) that prohibited government recognition of all forms of relationship rights (marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships) for same-sex couples. Based on 175 interviews with gay and lesbian pairs in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin, the volume has great human-interest value and chronicles how same-sex couples and their children coped within harsh legal environments. The work ends with a lively explanation of how the federal judiciary rescued these families from their own governments. In addition, the book provides a model of the grassroots circumstances under which harassed minority groups migrate out of oppressive state regimes, together with an estimate of the economic and other costs (to the refugees and their governments) of the flight from persecution. Review 'This meticulously researched and artfully written volume reveals in vivid terms the real pain and suffering inflicted on gay and lesbian Americans as a result of the culture wars. Not only does this volume bring voice to those who directly suffered as a result of the super-DOMAs, but it also reveals the cynical political calculus that led to the implementation of these evil legal regimes. Pinello has written what is sure to be a classic volume.' Charles Anthony Smith, University of California, Irvine'America's War on Same-Sex Couples and their Families devotes more than a hundred pages to quotations from interviews by the author with dozens of lesbian and gay couples living in states with 'super-DOMAs' denying them a vast array of legal rights and benefits. These interviews usefully illustrate the many ways that their exclusion from marriage harmed these couples and their children. In contrast, the author's 2010 interview with Phil Burress, the father of the congressional DOMA and Ohio's super-DOMA, is educational because it preserves this activist's frightening logic in his own words.' William N. Eskridge, Jr, Yale Law School'Marriage matters. Pinello's study narrates the heart-wrenching stories of life without the all-access pass to financial, legal, emotional, and social recognition that binds couples and families together. These oral histories sit alongside his meticulous account of state-level DOMA politics and of the hope offered through judicial challenges. Required reading for all students of the political process and its impact on the everyday lives of citizens.' Angelia R. Wilson, University of Manchester'I love Pinello's idea of [former Supreme Court Justice Antonin] Scalia as the unintending midwife of the birth of the constitutional right of same-sex marriage.' Honorable Richard A. Posner, Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School'Carefully chronicling the effects of the efforts of 20 states to pass restrictive constitutional amendments known as Super-DOMAs (named after the federal Defense of Marriage Act), the author examines these restrictive constitutional amendments, designed to ban recognition of all forms of relationship rights for same-sex couples. … This is an excellent, well-researched look at the question of whether the judicial system can effectively bring about social change in terms of marriage equality.' W. K. Hall, CHOICE Book Description Presents oral histories of how same-sex-marriage bans impacted gay couples and their children, and how courts rescued those families. About the Author Daniel R. Pinello is a professor of political science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York and was educated at Williams College, Massachusetts (BA), New York University (JD), and Yale University, Connecticut (PhD). His scholarship includes America's Struggle for Same-Sex Mar