Why Marriage?: The History Shaping Today's Debate over Gay Equality [Hardcover]

George Chauncey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2004

Angry debate over gay marriage is sweeping the country, threatening to divide the nation like no other issue since the Vietnam War. Why has marriage suddenly emerged as the most explosive issue in the gay struggle for equality? At times it seems to have come out of nowhere-but in fact it has a history.Drawing upon the unparalleled historical knowledge that established him as the principal author of the influential Historians' Amicus Brief filed in the landmark Supreme Court sodomy case Lawrence v. Texas, George Chauncey shows how the demand for the freedom to marry emerged from a decades-long struggle. He reminds us of the pervasive discrimination faced by lesbians and gay men only a few decades ago, when the federal government fired thousands of gay employees and restaurants were shut down for serving homosexuals. And he shows how the continuing discrimination faced by gay families-in insurance, pensions, and child custody struggles-led them to campaign for the protections of marriage.Chauncey gives us the history of the shifting attitudes of heterosexual Americans toward gays, from the dramatic growth in acceptance to the many campaigns against gay rights that form the background to today's demand for a constitutional amendment. He also connects religious opposition to interracial marriage and desegregation just fifty years ago with opposition to same-sex marriage today. Chauncey illuminates what's at stake for both sides, making this an essential book for gay and straight readers alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Chauncey says this short book, written on a three-month deadline and between two long-gestating big books, was a challenge, and his strain shows in some poor and question-begging wording. Nevertheless, this is a swell, partisan, but not particularly argumentative U.S. gay-rights history primer, which makes at least two big points that need to be common knowledge. The first is that active antigay repression is largely a twentieth-century phenomenon; strong antigay law enforcement and many of the laws themselves date from the 1930s and became harsher and spread after World War II. The other is that marriage became a primary gay-rights goal because of AIDS and gay efforts to adopt, for AIDS patients' partners were barred from them in hospitals and stripped of jointly held property after they died, and gays wishing to share responsibility for partners' children had to leap costly legal hurdles. Marriage, with its presumption of mutual rights and responsibilities, would eliminate those and other barriers. Ray Olson
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Review

""a clear-eyed explanation of how various social, cultural, political, and religious forces have shaped and reshaped attitudes toward sexual behaviors." -- OUT Magazine

"Why Marriage? is lucidly written and will most certainly help the interested general reader better understand the issue." -- Newsday

"A wonderfully readable account of how the issue emerged ... [that] thoroughly debunks the myths of 'traditional' marriage." -- New York Times

"a tour de force of historical analysis and explanation, essential for anyone eager to understand current political arguments." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (August 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465009573
• ISBN-13: 978-0465009572
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Nonfiction > Civil Rights

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Why Marriage? The history shaping today's debate over gay equality, November 30, 2007

By 

K. Pumphrey "wmst300" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Why Marriage?: The history shaping today's debate over gay equality (Paperback)

Why Marriage? The History Shaping Today's Debate Over Gay Equality written by George Chauncey describes the history that has set the stage for the debate over gay marriage today. The book begins with a history of gay and lesbian individuals in the US and their struggle to enter and gain acceptance in the public sphere. Up until the 1930s during the great depression gay and lesbians were not viewed with such critique and demonization. During the great depression there was a push for traditional families when men lost their jobs and no longer had the same role in their family and found homosexuals to be a threat. Continued discriminatory practices continued in the following decades and gay clubs and restaurants were closed and individuals presumed to be homosexual were jailed. During the 1950's Broadway plays were band from having gay themed plays and an agreement was made in Hollywood not to represent gay characters or issues. During the 1970's public opinion was shifting and heterosexual couples were living together before marriage. Birth control was gaining popularity and sex was being viewed as a means of pleasure and not just for reproduction. During the 1980s through the 1990s the AIDS epidemic started and gay men were both stereotyped and feared as being diseased by the public and healthcare workers. Gay men came together with the support of female activists, who had experience in health due to work in the women's movement, to battle discrimination. In 1987 78% of the US viewed homosexual relations as wrong. During the 1990s gay characters could be seen in the media and movies such as Philadelphia were hits and gay support was increasing significantly. In 1993 the military enacted a "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy on homosexuality forcing many gay individuals to lead a double life. Chauncey describes how marriage has evolved overtime from a system of control, where people wed for political reasons and one could not choose a partner, to a system of love and compassion. Since the nineteenth century marriage has evolved and the freedom to choose a partner is viewed as a right, gender roles with in married families have changed and no longer need a stereotypical "man" or "woman", marriage is economically beneficial and often necessary, and is thought of less on the basis of religion, even though some churches do allow it. Marriage is desired by gay and lesbian couples because without the privilege they are second class citizens with no rights and protection if a partner becomes ill, as seen in the AIDS epidemic, or dies along with protection for their children. In 2004 gay couples received the right to marry in Massachusetts and California along with other counties throughout the US. Gay couples flocked to get married but this ability to wed was short lived when President Bush two weeks later set forth a constitutional amendment to end gay marriage.
Taking notes through this reading allowed me to reflect on what I was writing its significance to the overall issue of gay marriage. I found this to be very helpful in understanding the context of this book. There was a lot of information presented and many different movements were occurring simultaneously so I benefited from taking short breaks to layout what I had learned within the greater picture. The tone of this book was informative and I did not find it to be biased. Being unbiased was important to me because I believe individuals from any walks of life would benefit from this book and not feel as if they were being attacked. I liked the way Chauncey approached the subject from a very factual and less philosophical frame. When reading similar information on gay marriage the argument tends to be emotional and philosophical but the factual way this book was presented was much more beneficial to me as a reader. Chauncey is able to present the material from a factual approach because he is an expert in the field and has testified as an expert witness in several major gay rights cases. He was also a head author of the Historians' Amicus Brief in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which resulted in the Supreme Court's landmark decision overturning the nation's remaining sodomy laws.

Topics to discuss:

1)Does the AIDS epidemic still affect gay culture? Gay individuals were affected personally, socially, economically, and politically. Gay individuals were personally affected in the 1980s because the majority of those infected with the disease were gay men. These men suffered from health issues and had to pay inflated amounts for healthcare because pharmaceutical companies did not want to treat a "gay" disease. Healthcare professionals were also scared of the disease. Gay individuals were targeted as social outcasts and heterosexual people did not want to eat or drink from where an individual with AIDS may have eaten or drank from. Gay partners had no right to visitation and upon death lost financial stability and security. Politically it was used as another way to prove gay inferiority.

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific, September 17, 2004

By 

Scooter (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Marriage?: The History Shaping Today's Debate over Gay Equality (Hardcover)

A riveting analysis of the question of gay marriage that casts light on both its social and historical implications, placing the gay rights movement in the context of comparable 20th century movements defending and promoting the rights of blacks and women.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Effective and concise, June 8, 2006

By 

Esther Andersen (CA, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Marriage: The History Shaping Today's Debate Over Gay Equality (Paperback)

This book is a really good run down of gay history leading up to the gay marriage issue of today. It is concise, easy to read and a great history lesson for those not too familiar with gay history. I would definitely recommend it for those who are not too familiar with the issues surrounding the gay marriage issue-and leading up to it.