Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry (Simon and Schuster), written by Evan Wolfson.
With the ever-increasing number of legal challenges, court rulings, and legislative initiatives that the concept of marriage has been generating over the last decade in North America and parts of Europe, a serious book documenting and analyzing the gradual move toward marriage equality was in order. Evan Wolfson has just written it, using history, sound logic, and a simple format based on explanation rather than preaching.
Wolfson is the founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry, an organization working for marriage equality. When it comes to defending gay rights, his has been a unique and stellar journey. In 1991 he was co-counsel in the first same-sex marriage case, in Hawaii. He represented many people with HIV/AIDS during a decade when equal employment protections for LGBT Americans were still fledgling. In 2000 he argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court against the Boy Scouts of America's anti-gay policy in what is now known as the Dale case. That same year, he was named one of America's top 100 lawyers and in 2004 he made Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
If Wolfson had not put together Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry, there would be a significant gap in our chronicles of the struggle for civil rights. Written in his usual eloquent style, the book has both structure and built-in pace. Wolfson inserts quotes and sections of court rulings in a text that frames issues clearly if not always sequentially. Bullet points astutely bring different events and personalities together on a single page.
Each of the 10 chapters deals with a specific aspect of the marriage debate by answering a question or objection that opponents of equality routinely raise. In an effort to engage conservatives as much as middle-of-the-road gay readers and the few remaining organizations who wish this battle could be fought after this year's elections, Chapter Two asks 'Why Now?' The reply comes in the way of a brisk review of developments from Hawaii to Vermont, thus illustrating the gathering momentum of the drive for full legal recognition. Transcripts of hearings and television exchanges between legislators and political commentators such as the late Sonny Bono, Barney Frank, Pat Buchanan, and Robert Knight complete the picture.
Chapter Three ponders whether allowing gay couples to marry will harm society. For this one, Wolfson has Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania to thank for doing his work. Extracts of statements made by the two men before and after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling favoring the extension of marriage rights blatantly show the ridicule of the anti-gay argument on this point. The passages almost induce laughter—until the reader realizes that fellow citizens voted those people into office. More than once.
Reservations about the situation of children in same-sex relationships are explored from a social and psychological perspective. Wolfson offers case histories and family testimonies, but he is more compelling when he points to empirical research done with children of same-sex parents. He shows how conservative voices misrepresent findings and deliberately ignore certain words or paragraphs when invoking studies to support their anti-gay claims.
The dated but inevitable question of procreation as the aim of marriage is swiftly dealt with as several court rulings have already established that there are a variety of perfectly legitimate reasons to marry. The role of religion is also examined and the discussion takes the reader all the way back to the lines of the Bible and the Old Testament that fundamentalists often misquote. Wolfson then touches on the constitutional freedom of religion as well as the separation of church and state.
Concerns related to official status, legal circumstances, and individual state rights are examined in three later chapters. Civil unions and the limited rights, protections and benefits they would yield are contrasted with the full advantages and responsibilities of marriage. In a documented deconstruction of 'separate but equal,' Wolfson draws parallels to the civil-rights movement of the '50s and '60s but is careful not to equate gay people's plight with that of African-Americans.
The last chapter is a short synopsis of Wolfson's motivations in advocating for marriage equality for all. He speaks of a time not so far off when the entire debate over same-sex marriage will be a mere embarrassing memory.
He says he wants to be able to account for his actions when younger generations ask how he stood up against discrimination and contributed to social change. He'll have a long answer.
So that we too may have something to say for ourselves, Wolfson added four appendixes. The first one is a four-page abstract of the entire book, not unlike a set of talking points. The second one contains a list of legal protections that are not available to same-sex couples and their kids. The third appendix suggests 18 ways gay Americans and their straight allies can get involved in the campaign to educate friends and neighbors about the need for marriage equality. Finally, a directory of national and state level gay and/or civil-rights organizations with Web addresses closes out what amounts to a potent tool for change.
