LET ME step in as your editor to fill a lacuna that I perceive in an issue devoted to “alternative sexualities,” to wit, something on polyamory, which has been variously described as a sexual orientation, a lifestyle, and a movement.
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The Golden Anniversary approaches, forging ahead like a juggernaut smashing every other puny bit of queer history along the way.
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Two anthologies put together before Trump’s nomination and published before his election encourage reflection on our recent history and its lessons. They also complement one another well and deserve to be read together.
MoreIN A NATIONAL REFERENDUM on May 22, Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, not by judicial or legislative action, but by a popular vote.…More
One of the old saws directed against marriage has always been that it leads to the loss of a person’s identity. Another is that it perpetuates traditional patriarchal values that many find repugnant. But, …
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Redeeming the Dream traces how he and David Boies moved from being adversaries to being friends, how they were hired by the newly formed American Foundation for Equal Rights to lead the court fight against Proposition 8, and how they again argued a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, this time on the same side.
MoreTHE FRENCH like to make fun of the British, joking about their repressed ways in matters of the heart. But when it came time to debate same-sex marriage, it was France that betrayed a deeply conservative streak in sometimes violent protests, while the British showed themselves to be modern and tolerant.
More… This article, which appeared in the Fall 1997 issue, reminds us that once there was a time when not everyone in the GLBT movement was on board with the idea that same-sex marriage should be at the top of our agenda. Ettelbrick opposed this objective on feminist grounds, and it’s interesting to note that her main argument against same-sex marriage is that it will only strengthen a bad institution-the exact antithesis of the conservative claim that letting gay people get married will fatally harm the institution of marriage itself.
MoreHEN SPAIN became the third country in the world to grant same-sex couples the freedom to marry in 2005, it came as a surprise to many watching from the United States. How could a traditional, Catholic country that had been under a fascist dictatorship for most of the 20th century suddenly be at the forefront of marriage equality for same-sex couples?
Spanish GLBT rights activists describe the change in dramatic terms: …
MoreWHEN A BRIDE and groom exchange vows in a cathedral, chapel, or temple, they receive a marriage license blessed simultaneously by their clergy and their state. But why? Other religious ceremonies aren’t wedded to civil ones. The county clerk doesn’t issue a baptism license. A priest doesn’t deliver a funeral eulogy and then sign the death certificate. Could separating religious and civil marriages solve the gay-marriage standoff?
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