Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-Laws (Yale Law Library in Legal History and Reference)

The definitive history of the marriage equality debatein the United States, praised by Library Journalas "beautifully and accessibly written. . . . .An essentialwork."As a legal scholar who first argued in the early 1990s for aright to gay marriage, William N. Eskridge Jr. has been on thefront lines of the debate over same†'sex marriage for decades. Inthis book, Eskridge and his coauthor, Christopher R. Riano, offer apanoramic and definitive history of America's marriage equalitydebate. The authors explore the deeply religious, rabidlypolitical, frequently administrative, and pervasivelyconstitutional features of the debate and consider all angles ofits dramatic history. While giving a full account of the legal andpolitical issues, the authors never lose sight of the personalstories of the people involved, or of the central place the rightto marry holds in a person's ability to enjoy the dignity of fullcitizenship. This is not a triumphalist or one†'sided book but athoughtful history of how the nation wrestled with an importantquestion of moral and legal equality.