Sexuality and the Law Commons^™

Doma As A Defensible Exercise Of Congressional Power Under The Full-Faith-And-Credit Clause, Timothy Joseph Keefer

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Doma: An Unconstitutional Establishment Of Fundamentalist Christianity, James M. Donovan

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

According to the text of the Act, DOMA's purposes are "to define and protect the institution of marriage," where marriage is defined to exclude same-sex partners. To be constitutionally valid under the Establishment Clause, this notion that heterosexual marriages require "protection" from gay and lesbian persons must spring from a secular and not religious source. This Article posits that DOMA has crossed this forbidden line between the secular and the religious. DOMA, motivated and supported by fundamentalist Christian ideology, and lacking any genuine secular goals or justifications, betrays the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Marriage Today: Legal Consequences For Same Sex And Opposite Sex Couples, David L. Chambers

Articles

Laws that treat married persons in a different manner than they treat single persons permeate nearly every field of social regulation in this country -- taxation, otrts, evidence, social welfare, inheritance, adoption, and on and on.

Polygamy And Same-Sex Marriage, David L. Chambers

Articles

In the American federal system, state governments bear the responsibility for enacting the laws that define the persons who are permitted to marry. The federal government, throughout our history, has accepted these definitions and built upon them, fixing legal consequences for those who validly marry under state law. Only twice in American history has Congress intervened to reject the determinations that states might make about who can marry. The first occasion was in the late nineteenth century when Congress enacted a series of statutes aimed at the Mormon Church, prohibiting polygamy in the Western territories and punishing the Church and …

The Good Of Marriage And The Morality Of Sexual Relations: Some Philosophical And Historical Observations, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

This article examines the morality of sexual relations, referencing the views of many other scholars on the subject including Acquinas, Grisez, Noonan, and Koppelman.

Constitutionally Defending Marriage: The Defense Of Marriage Act, Romer V. Evans And The Cultural Battle They Represent, Leonard G. Brown Iii

Campbell Law Review

No abstract provided.

What If? The Legal Consequences Of Marriage And The Legal Needs Of Lesbian And Gay Male Couples, David L. Chambers

Articles

Laws that treat married persons in a different manner than they treat single persons permeate nearly every field of social regulation in this country - taxation, torts, evidence, social welfare, inheritance, adoption, and on and on. In this article I inquire into the patterns these laws form and the central benefits and obligations that marriage entails, a task few scholars have undertaken in recent years. I have done so because same-sex couples, a large group not previously eligible to marry under the laws of any American jurisdiction, may be on the brink of securing the opportunity to do so in …

Marriage And The Liberal Imagination, Gerard V. Bradley, Robert P. George

Journal Articles

In an article marked by the intelligence and fairmindedness for which his work is widely-and rightly-admired, Stephen Macedo has argued against our view that sodomy, including homosexual sodomy, is intrinsically nonmarital and immoral. His goal is to show that "new natural law" theorists, such as Germain Grisez, John Finnis, and the two of us, have no sound argument for drawing moral distinctions-which would, in turn, provide a basis for legal distinctions (particularly in the area of marriage)­ between the sodomitical acts of "devoted, loving, committed homosexual partners" and the acts of genital union of men and women in marriage. We …

Tying A Slipknot: Temporary Marriages In Iran, Tamilla F. Ghodsi

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this Note is to analyze the institution of mut'a critically, but objectively. It is important to first understand that it is possible to learn something from this institution. The sanctioning of temporary marriages illustrates the pervasive role of law as a method of social control, a characteristic which has parallels in the West. Furthermore, the institution may be challenged on its merits. For example, this Note intends to illustrate how the lack of formalism and the presence of great ambiguity in the institution have contributed to its lack of acceptance in Iranian society. The institution's deficiencies demonstrate …

Tales Of Two Cities: Aids And The Legal Recognition Of Domestic Partnerships In San Francisco And New York, David L. Chambers

Articles

Here are two stories. They are of the quite different ways that domestic partnerships of lesbian and gay couples have come to be recognized, for some purposes, in San Francisco and New York City. I tell the stories for their own sake, but with a particular focus on the role that AIDS played in the political process in each city.

Incest Statutes And The Fundamental Right Of Marriage: Is Oedipus Free To Marry?, Carolyn S. Bratt

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The U.S. Supreme Court has found that the right to marry is a constitutionally protected right. That right is restricted, however, by state incest statutes which impede marriage between adults by making some choices of a marriage partner illegal. The constitutional validity of modern state incest statutes is difficult to analyze because of shifting definitions, reflexive fears, ambivalent attitudes, and underlying facile generalizations.

The mere word "incest" triggers strong feelings of revulsion in most people. Therefore, any a priori labeling of a marriage as incestuous tends to preclude objective thought about the permissibility of the particular form of the marriage …

Conjugal Visitation Rights And The Appropriate Standard Of Judicial Review For Prison Regulations, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Conjugal visitation rights allow prison inmates and spouses to visit privately and have sexual relations. A number of countries, particularly in Latin America, permit conjugal visits. Although in the United States only Mississippi and California currently permit conjugal visitation, the experience of these two states shows that such programs are workable. Conjugal visitation has met with varied reaction in the literature, but persuasive arguments have been made that it would offer potential psychological benefits to the prisoner, reduce prison homosexuality, and allow the inmate to preserve his or her marital ties. Nevertheless, the reaction of penal administrators in this country …