A Philosopher’s Case for Equality
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The Long Arc of Justice: Lesbian and Gay Marriage, Equality, and Rights
by Richard Mohr
Columbia University Press
160 pages, $22.95

AT AN EASILY DIGESTIBLE 136 pages, The Long Arc of Justice is a powerful little book of applied ethics in which Richard Mohr devotes his characteristic analytical rigor to a broad range of important gay and lesbian issues. For those familiar with Mohr’s work in GLBT philosophy, much of this book’s philosophical machinery will be familiar, as it draws from many of his prior publications, including his often reprinted article, “Gay Basics,” his work on recent Supreme Court rulings, and especially his 1994 book, A More Perfect Union: Why Straight America Must Stand Up for Gay Rights.

To begin where the book ends: in the final paragraph, Mohr quotes Will Rogers for having “correctly recognized the limited role of reason in politics when he quipped, ‘People’s minds are changed through observation, not through argument.’”