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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Law

To Say &Quoi Do": Shahar V. Bowers, Same-Sex Marriage, And Public Employee And Free Speech Rights, Bryan H. Wildenthal Dec 1998

To Say &Quoi Do": Shahar V. Bowers, Same-Sex Marriage, And Public Employee And Free Speech Rights, Bryan H. Wildenthal

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.


For Better Or Worse: A Critical Analysis Of Florida's Defense Of Marriage Act, Michael J. Kanotz Apr 1998

For Better Or Worse: A Critical Analysis Of Florida's Defense Of Marriage Act, Michael J. Kanotz

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.


Deliberative Democracy, Overlapping Consensus, And Same-Sex Marriage, Linda C. Mcclain Mar 1998

Deliberative Democracy, Overlapping Consensus, And Same-Sex Marriage, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

A pressing concern in political and constitutional theory is how to construct a model of justification in law and politics that offers methods for securing agreement and social cooperation in the face of moral pluralism. A common goal of this work is to elaborate the requirements of deliberative democracy, that is, a model of democratic self-government that "asks citizens and officials to justify public policy by giving reasons that can be accepted by those who are bound by it."' Two fundamental questions are: (1) are there any limits to the grounds to which citizens may appeal or the reasons that …


Domestic Partnership And Same-Sex Relationships: A Marketplace Innovation And A Less Than Perfect Institutional Choice, Nancy J. Knauer Jan 1998

Domestic Partnership And Same-Sex Relationships: A Marketplace Innovation And A Less Than Perfect Institutional Choice, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

The struggle for the recognition and protection of same-sex relationships is at the forefront of the contemporary gay and lesbian civil rights agenda. Whereas the push for same-sex marriage and parenting rights has met with mixed results in the courts and the legislatures, an impressive array of organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, colleges, nonprofit corporations, and municipalities, now extend benefits to the same-sex partners of their employees. This level of success raises a provocative question regarding the potential role of institutional employers in the larger on the agenda for progressive social change. Domestic partnership benefits are a creature of the …


Deliberative Democracy, Overlapping Consensus, And Same-Sex Marriage, Linda C. Mcclain Jan 1998

Deliberative Democracy, Overlapping Consensus, And Same-Sex Marriage, Linda C. Mcclain

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


If Not Marriage? On Securing Gay And Lesbian Family Values By A "Simulacrum Of Marriage", Craig W. Christensen Jan 1998

If Not Marriage? On Securing Gay And Lesbian Family Values By A "Simulacrum Of Marriage", Craig W. Christensen

Fordham Law Review

The benefits of [homosexual] marriage may outweigh the costs. Nonetheless, since the public hostility to homosexuals in this country is too widespread to make homosexual marriage a feasible proposal even if it is on balance cost-justified, maybe the focus should be shifted to an intermediated solution that would give gomosexuals most of what they want . . . . . . . What . . . is called registered partnership and . . . homosexual cohabitation [in some countries] is in effect a form contract that comosexuals can use to create a simulacrum of marriage. Richard A. Posner, Sex and …


Lesbian Divorce: A Commentary On The Legal Issues, David L. Chambers Jan 1998

Lesbian Divorce: A Commentary On The Legal Issues, David L. Chambers

Articles

Lesbian couples who break up will find themselves in an awkward position under the law for two separable but related reasons. The first is that, because they were unmarried, they are subjected by the law to much the same uneven and ambivalent treatment to which unmarried heterosexual couples are subjected. The second, of course, is that they are gay or lesbian and thus regarded with special disfavor even in some states that have become more tolerant of unmarried heterosexual relationships. As a law teacher who is gay and who writes about family law issues relating to gay men and lesbians, …


Sexual Dis-Orientation: Transgendered People And Same-Sex Marriage, Mary I. Coombs Jan 1998

Sexual Dis-Orientation: Transgendered People And Same-Sex Marriage, Mary I. Coombs

Articles

In this Article, Professor Coombs argues that the debate about same-sex marriage has wrongfully ignored transgendered people and their relationships. She provides an overview of arguments made by opponents of same-sex marriage, such as tradition, procreation, child-rearing, and family values. She then examines cases involving transsexual marriages and uses this analysis to deconstruct the same-sex marriage debate. Professor Coombs argues that an honest consideration of transgendered people and their relationships forces a re-evaluation of arguments against same-sex marriage and disrupts the gendered patriarchy on which traditional marriage rests. Marriage should be seen as a relationship between two people, regardless of …


Universalism, Liberal Theory, And The Problem Of Gay Marriage, Robin West Jan 1998

Universalism, Liberal Theory, And The Problem Of Gay Marriage, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Liberalism, both contemporary and classical, rests at heart on a theory of human nature, and at the center of that theory lies one core commitment: all human beings, qua human beings, are essentially rational. There are two equally important implications. The first we might call the "universalist" assumption: all human beings, not just some, are rational -- not just white people, men, freemen, property owners, aristocrats, or citizens, but all of us. In this central, defining respect, then, we are all the same: we all share in this universal, natural, human trait. The second implication, we might call the "individualist" …


Toleration, Autonomy, And Governmental Promotion Of Good Lives: Beyond 'Empty' Toleration To Toleration As Respect, Linda C. Mcclain Jan 1998

Toleration, Autonomy, And Governmental Promotion Of Good Lives: Beyond 'Empty' Toleration To Toleration As Respect, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

This Article considers discontent with liberal toleration as being both too empty, because it fails to secure respect and appreciation among citizens who tolerate each other, and too robust, because it precludes government from engaging in a formative project of helping citizens to live good, self-governing lives. To meet these criticisms, the Article advances a model of toleration as respect, as distinguished from a model of empty toleration, drawing on three rationales for toleration: the anti-compulsion rationale, the jurisdictional rationale, and the diversity rationale. It defends toleration as respect against some common criticisms-emanating from feminist, civic republican, and liberal perfectionist …


Heteronormativity And The Federal Tax Code, Nancy J. Knauer Dec 1997

Heteronormativity And The Federal Tax Code, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

Proponents of same-sex marriage demand equal marriage rights as a matter of fundamental human dignity and as a means to gain certain legal benefits and protections. The ability to file joint federal income tax returns is invariably listed as one of the benefits associated with marriage. This outsider perspective contradicts the popular notion that the income tax is anti-marriage and offers a useful vantage point from which to analyze the marital provisions of the federal tax code, the treatment of the provisions in tax scholarship, and legislative proposals for "pro-family" tax reform. The joint filing provisions are just one example …