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Nancy D. Polikoff
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Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families under the Law (Queer Action/ Queer Ideas) Hardcover – February 1, 2008

by Nancy D. Polikoff (Author), Michael Bronski (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 9 ratings
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The debate over marriage equality for same-sex couples rages across the country. Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage boldly moves the discussion forward by focusing on the larger, more fundamental issue of marriage and the law. The root problem, asserts law professor and LGBT rights activist Nancy Polikoff, is that marriage is a bright dividing line between those relationships that legally matter and those that don't. A woman married to a man for nine months is entitled to Social Security survivor's benefits when he dies; a woman living for nineteen years with a man or woman to whom she is not married receives nothing.

Polikoff reframes the debate by arguing that all family relationships and households need the economic stability and emotional peace of mind that now extend only to married couples. Unmarried couples of any sexual orientation, single-parent households, extended family units, and myriad other familial configurations need recognition and protection to meet the concerns they all share: building and sustaining economic and emotional interdependence, and nurturing the next generation.

Couples should have the choice to marry based on the spiritual, cultural, or religious meaning of marriage in their lives, asserts Polikoff. While marriage equality for same-sex couples is a civil rights victory, she contends that no one should have to marry in order to reap specific and unique legal results.

A persuasive argument that married couples should not receive special rights denied to other families, Polikoff shows how the law can value all families, and why it must.
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  1. Book 3 of 10
    Queer Ideas/Queer Action
  2. Print length
    256 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Beacon Press
  5. Publication date
    February 1, 2008
  6. Dimensions
    5.68 x 0.81 x 8.83 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0807044326
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0807044322
  9. See all details
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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
9 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

TranquilDiva
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, fresh approach to the controversial issue of gay marriage
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2008
I highly recommend this book to college students, law students, attorneys, religious leaders, and policy makers - gay or straight - anyone who is searching for a better way to conceptualize family values in this country. The author provides an in-depth history of the LGBT rights movement juxtaposed against the rise of the Christian Right and delivers a very moving argument for why we should start to untangle sex-based relationships from the civil institution of marriage and move to a model based on dependency - the original purpose of marriage. In today's modern world, there are many different kinds of families - gay couples raising adopted children; single mothers living with their siblings; adult children helping their elderly parents; etc. etc. These families are built on dependency - each individual supports or depends on another and the government should intervene in a way that rewards such relationships, e.g. by providing health insurance and other benefits that are often provided only for spouses or unrelated domestic partners. This book is a fascinating read and would make an excellent addition to the collection of any scholar of history, politics, feminism, or religion.
3 people found this helpful
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H. Milk
4.0 out of 5 stars Great ideas, not well written
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2009
Verified Purchase
This text offers an important expansion of the narrow question: are you for or against 'gay marriage'? By asking us to expand our vision and calling for a broader revision of family law, the author offers a way out of the gay morality trap that will lead to greater rights and autonomy for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation. At times the text is a bit dense and repetitive and could have benefited from some closer editing but the importance of the ideas makes it worth slogging through what is at times plodding prose.
2 people found this helpful
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Grady Harp
5.0 out of 5 stars Equality and the Variation of the Definition of Family
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2008
Nancy Polikoff, a professor of law at the American University Washington College of Law, has researched the very current topic of 'marriage rights' that for the most part are regarded by the general public as the battle between same sex and different sex marriage, an area where there is very little equality or respect to be gleaned from the media, and hence the public. Polikoff wisely approaches this disparity of human rights from an angle that allows every reader to become involved in her plea for reconsideration of what is labeled (and respected) as 'family'.

Too often books on the subject of gay rights are so skewed that they end up preaching to the choir or throwing fire on a malignant issue: the audience craving equality under the law for legalizing same sex marriage is balanced against the radical right who condemn the domestic partnership idea as a sin. Polikoff recognizes this schism and in her very natural manner of writing poses examples of units of people whose rights are denied by Social Security policies, child care conflicts resulting from the definition of 'parent', and even rights for visitation in hospitals or hospices when the allowed visitors are 'family only'. Why must the label 'marriage' be the deciding factor in units of loving people whose potential for and production of caring homes be the norm?

The subtitle of Polikoff's fine book - VALUING ALL FAMILIES UNDER THE LAW - is well chosen and in many ways is the major message of her book. She asserts that all family relationships and households deserve equal rights now saved only for married couples. This change in approach to the importance of re-defining 'what is a family' holds the value of her work: according to Polikoff, 'family' denotes unmarried couples of any sexual orientation, single-parent households, and the many variations of extended family units, each of which deserves recognition as mutually beneficial cohesive units entitled to the same benefits in the workplace, in government law, and in rights afforded to all citizens.

In what will rightly become a powerful resource for sociological studies Nancy Polikoff has elected to make this carefully researched and documented text as reader friendly as possible. Libraries should add this book to their shelves for student studies: the general public would greatly benefit from reading her concepts in hopes of expanding the understanding and appreciation of the transformation of the concept of 'family' today. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, March 08
11 people found this helpful
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J. E. Carter
4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2014
Verified Purchase
Probably too late for this approach, but a great book for those who are interested in the legal aspects of marriage, straight OR gay. I found it a very good read. Gives some not-so-obvious ideas to ponder.
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