License to Wed : What Legal Marriage Means to Same-Sex Couples / Kimberly D. Richman.
2013
HQ796 .C5943 2012eb
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Details
Title
License to Wed : What Legal Marriage Means to Same-Sex Couples / Kimberly D. Richman.
ISBN
9780814724194
Published
New York, NY : : New York University Press, [2013]
Copyright
©2013
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource
Item Number
10.18574/nyu/9780814724194.001.0001 doi
Call Number
HQ796 .C5943 2012eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
305.2350973
Summary
A critical reader of the history of marriage understands that it is an institution that has always been in flux. It is also a decidedly complicated one, existing simultaneously in the realms of religion, law, and emotion. And yet recent years have seen dramatic and heavily waged battles over the proposition of including same sex couples in marriage. Just what is at stake in these battles?License to Wed examines the meanings of marriage for couples in the two first states to extend that right to same sex couples: California and Massachusetts. The two states provide a compelling contrast: while in California the rights that go with marriage-inheritance, custody, and so forth-were already granted to couples under the state's domestic partnership law, those in Massachusetts did not have this same set of rights. At the same time, Massachusetts has offered civil marriage consistently since 2004; Californians, on the other hand, have experienced a much more turbulent legal path. And yet, same-sex couples in both states seek to marry for a variety of interacting, overlapping, and evolving reasons that do not vary significantly by location.The evidence shows us that for many of these individuals, access to civil marriage in particular-not domestic partnership alone, no matter how broad-and not a commitment ceremony alone, no matter how emotional-is a home of such personal, civic, political, and instrumental resonance that it is ultimately difficult to disentangle the many meanings of marriage. This book attempts to do so, and in the process reveals just what is at stake for these couples, how access to a legal institution fundamentally alters their consciousness, and what the impact of legal inclusion is for those traditionally excluded.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Available in Other Form
print 9780814725467
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface: putting a face on the debate
1. Introduction
2. The Road to Same-Sex Marriage
3. The Rite as Right
4. Marriage as Protest
5. Marriage as Validation
6. Making It Personal
7. Conclusion
Appendix 1.
Appendix 2
Notes
Index
About the Author
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface: putting a face on the debate
1. Introduction
2. The Road to Same-Sex Marriage
3. The Rite as Right
4. Marriage as Protest
5. Marriage as Validation
6. Making It Personal
7. Conclusion
Appendix 1.
Appendix 2
Notes
Index
About the Author