Synopses & Reviews
With same-sex marriage igniting a firestorm of controversy in the press and in the courts, in legislative chambers and in living rooms, Andrew Sullivan, a pioneering voice in the debate, has brought together two thousand years of argument in an anthology of historic inclusiveness and evenhandedness. Among the selections included here:
- The 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in support of same-sex marriage
- Justice Kennedy's majority opinion and Justice Scalia's dissent in the 2003 landmark Supreme Court decision striking down anti-sodomy laws
- President George W. Bush's call for a Federal Marriage Amendment
- John Kerry's Senate speech urging defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act
- Harvard historian Nancy F. Cott's testimony before the Vermont House Judiciary Committee
- Reverend Peter J. Gomes on the distinction between civil and religious marriage
- Stanley Kurtz on the politics of gay marriage
- Evan Wolfson on the popularity of the right to marry among lesbians and gay men
- New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks' conservative case for same-sex marriage
- Excerpts from Genesis, Leviticus, and other essential biblical texts
- Aristophanes's classic theory of same-sex love, from Plato's Symposium
- Hannah Arendt on marriage as a fundamental right
- Camille Paglia's skepticism
Representing the full range of perspectives and the most cogent and arresting arguments,
Same-Sex Marriage is essential to a balanced understanding of the most pressing cultural question we face today.
Review
"[Same-sex marriage] may be the social debate of the decade, and [this book] help[s] to bring the arguments into sharper focus. Same-Sex Marriage, Pro and Con begins with an historically enlightening essay by Sullivan..." Library Journal
Synopsis
From Plato to Camille Paglia, a collection of opinions, pro and con, on one of the most explosive issues of our time. Were homosexual unions sanctioned by societies before our own? What are the bases for the religious proscriptions against them? Does the Constitution implicitly grant homosexuals the right to marry? Will same-sex marriages make gays and lesbians more like heterosexuals or somehow undermine the traditional family? How will they affect our notions of parenthood?
In Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con these questions are explored by clergy and jurists, historians and anthropologists, poets, conservative politicians, queer theorists, and many others. Andrew Sullivan gathers two thousand years of argument on same-sex partnerships into an anthology of historic inclusiveness and evenhandedness. Readers of every sexual and ideological persuasion will be consulting this definitive book for years to come. Includes writings from or by: Genesis, Montaigne, Ann Landers, Antonin Scalia, Plato, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Katha Pollitt, James Q. Wilson, Hannah Arendt, William Bennett, Senate Debate on Defense of Marriage Act, Jonathan Rauch, Rabbi Yoel H. Kahn, Amy E. Schwartz, William Safire, Barney Frank, and Charles Krauthammer.
Synopsis
A diverse collection of essays and articles explores the issue of same-sex marriages in America, addressing religious arguments for and against, legal and constitutional precedents, the issue of adoption, and other key questions.
About the Author
Andrew Sullivan lives in Washington, D.C.