Just Marriage [Paperback]

From the ground breaking legal decisions on gay marriage to the promotion of marriage for low-income families, the sacred institution of marriage has turned into a public battleground. Who should be allowed to marry and is marriage a public or private act? Should marriage be abandoned completely? Or should marriage be redefined as a civil institution that promotes sexual and racial equality?

As the fierce national debate over same-sex marriage and civil unions continues, Mary Lyndon Shanley argues that while the state should continue to play a role in regulating personal relations, the law must be fundamentally reformed if marriage is to become a more just institution. Fourteen prominent writers and thinkers respond, including Nancy F. Cott, William N. Eskridge, Jr., Amitai Etzioni, Martha Albertson Fineman, and Cass R. Sunstein.


Part I
Just Marriage: On the Public Importance of Private Unions,Mary Lyndon Shanley
Part II
The Public Stake,Nancy F. Cott
Marriage: Love or Care?,Joan C. Tronto
Of Federalism and Caste,Cass R. Sunstein
Why Marriage?,Martha Albertson Fineman
Mystification, Neutrality, and Same-Sex Couples in Marriage,David B. Cruz
The Relational Case for Same-Sex Marriage,William N. Eskridge Jr.
A Communitarian Position for Civil Unions,Amitai Etzioni
Between Justice and Commitment,Milton C. Reagan Jr.
Just Monogamy?,Elizabeth F. Emens
The Public Supports of Love,Drucilla Cornell
After Marriage,Wendy Brown
Beyond Marriage,Brenda Cossman
Why We Should Disestablish Marriage,Tamara Metz
Part III
Afterword,Mary Lyndon Shanley

The book is closer to a real conversation than many other anthologies that make such a claim.... But I came to think that the extreme brevity might be useful ifló–