A valuable survey of a cutting-edge issue, this book outlines the history of same-sex marriage, explaining how politics and religion have intersected to decide and control who can legally marry. Marriage equality became law in the United States in 2015 with the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Marriage is, strictly speaking, a secular ceremony, requiring only civil sanction. However, many couples also seek the blessing of a religious body upon their union, and not all religious bodies support marriage equality. Some oppose it outright and some support it outright, while others are divided. This work examines the issue of same-sex marriage in the U.S. and internationally. It surveys the attitudes of major religions towards same-sex marriage and also looks at leading and sometimes polarizing personalities, like politician Pete Buttigieg and Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who exemplify both the religious and political sides of the issue. The book's A-Z organization makes it easy for readers to locate important court cases, individuals, religious bodies, and social movements at the center of the same-sex marriage debate. Provides a comprehensive background of same sex-marriage in the United States by looking at its history, which shows how the topic has developed over the past half-century Surveys the current treatment of same-sex marriage by major religions, illustrating the diversity of views towards same-sex marriage among religions today Looks at modern court cases up to and through Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, providing a outline of what the law currently says about same-sex marriage and religion Includes a comprehensive, annotated bibliography of resources

First published in 1992, Sexual Sameness examines the differing textual strategies male and female writers have developed to celebrate homosexuality. Examining such writers as E.M. Forster, James Baldwin, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Audre Lourde, this wide-ranging book demonstrates how literature has been one of the few cultural spaces in which sexual outsiders have been able to explore forbidden desires. From the humiliating trials of Oscar Wilde to the appalling stigmatisation of people living with AIDS, Sexual Sameness reveals the persistent homophobia that has until recently almost completely inhibited our understanding of lesbian and gay writing. In opening up homosexual literature to informed and objective methods of reading, Sexual Sameness will be of interest to a large lesbian and gay readership, as well as to students of gender studies, literary studies and the social sciences.

The same-sex marriage debate is currently a central preoccupation of Western society, and both those for and against it have their points of view. After examining religious and social attitudes toward homosexuality and marriage throughout history, the author examines the strongest arguments on both sides of this highly contested issue. Written in an objective manner, readers are presented with both sides of the debate, to enable them to form their own opinions. Written for students and the general public, the work provides historical and cultural context for examining the issue of same-sex marriage. Included are leading spokespeople for both positions, a discussion of the role of the media, as well as a concluding chapter discussing where the issue seems to be heading, based on present trends that both favour or bode ill for the future of same-sex marriage. An annotated bibliography lists print and electronic resources for those seeking additional information.

Emotional problems do not discriminate according to sexual orientation. Therefore, gay men have the same emotional difficulties as everyone else. When emotional problems in gay men are viewed solely as the product of sociopolitical events, it limits the therapeutic intervention to correction. Dr. Kantor asserts that the gay-aware supportive therapist can treat the emotional problem with a positive result by meeting the needs of the individual patient with a diagnosis-based treatment approach.

Supportive psychotherapy for gay men with emotional problems can eliminate a broad range of emotional difficulties that are not exclusive to gay men. It shows therapists how psychological problems can be buried in a gay context and guides them to recognition and dynamic evaluation that forms the basis of a treatment plan that is simultaneously affirmative, supportive, and corrective.

"This book explores the 'lesbian baby boom'. Drawing on interviews with lesbian parents in two European countries, Sweden and Ireland, the book examines reproductive decision-making, reproductive health-care, the everyday spaces of parenthood such as daycare and schools, the negotiation of biology and kinship in families where only one partner is the biological parent, and the possibility for a more flexible approach to gender relations within these families."--BOOK JACKET.

A great . . . very interesting book. -Johnny Depp Burg puts historians to shame by raising extremely interesting questions that no one before had asked. -Christopher Hill in New York Review of Books Pirates are among the most heavily romanticized and fabled characters in history. From Bluebeard to Captain Hook, they have been the subject of countless movies, books, children's tales, even a world-famous amusement park ride. In Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition, historian B. R. Burg investigates the social and sexual world of these sea rovers, a tightly bound brotherhood of men engaged in almost constant warfare. What, he asks, did these men, often on the high seas for years at a time, do for sexual fulfillment? Buccaneer sexuality differed widely from that of other all- male institutions such as prisons, for it existed not within a regimented structure of rule, regulations, and oppressive supervision, but instead operated in a society in which widespread toleration of homosexuality was the norm and conditions encouraged its practice. In his new introduction, Burg discusses the initial response to the book when it was published in 1983 and how our perspectives on all-male societies have since changed. B. R. Burg is professor of history at Arizona State University, Tempe.

Were David and Jonathan 'gay' lovers? This very modern question lies behind the recent explosion of studies of the David and Jonathan narrative. Interpreters differ in their assessment of whether 1 and 2 Samuel offer a positive portrayal of a homosexual relationship. Beneath the conflict of interpretations lies an ambiguous biblical text which has drawn generations of readers - from the redactors of the Hebrew text and the early translators to modern biblical scholars - to the task of resolving its possible meanings. What has not yet been fully explored is the place of David and Jonathan in the evolution of modern, Western understandings of same-sex relationships, in particular how the story of their relationship was read alongside classical narratives, such as those of Achilles and Patroclus, or Orestes and Pylades. The Love of David and Jonathan explores this context in detail to argue that the story of David and Jonathan was part of the process by which the modern idea of homosexuality itself emerged.

First published in 1992, Sexual Sameness examines the differing textual strategies male and female writers have developed to celebrate homosexuality. Examining such writers as E.M. Forster, James Baldwin, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Audre Lourde, this wide-ranging book demonstrates how literature has been one of the few cultural spaces in which sexual outsiders have been able to explore forbidden desires. From the humiliating trials of Oscar Wilde to the appalling stigmatisation of people living with AIDS, Sexual Sameness reveals the persistent homophobia that has until recently almost completely inhibited our understanding of lesbian and gay writing. In opening up homosexual literature to informed and objective methods of reading, Sexual Sameness will be of interest to a large lesbian and gay readership, as well as to students of gender studies, literary studies and the social sciences.

Is bisexuality coming out in America? Bisexual characters are surfacing on popular television shows and in film. Newsweek proclaims that a new sexual identity is emerging. But amidst this burgeoning acknowledgment of bisexuality, is there an understanding of what it means to be bisexual in a monosexual culture?

RePresenting Bisexualities seeks to answer these questions, integrating a recognition of bisexual desire with new theories of gender and sexuality. Despite the breakthroughs in gender studies and queer studies of recent years, bisexuality has remained largely unexamined. Problematic sexual images are usually attributed either to homosexual or heterosexual desire while bisexual readings remain unexplored. The essays found in RePresenting Bisexualities discuss fluid sexualities through a variety of readings from the fence, covering texts from Emily Dickinson to Nine Inch Nails. Each author contributes to the collection a unique view of sexual fluidity and transgressive desire. Taken together, these essays provide the most comprehensive bisexual theory reader to date.

These innovative essays take a comparative approach to queer studies while simultaneously queering the field of comparative literature, strengthening the interdisciplinarity of both. By focusing not only on comparative praxis, but also on interrogating our assumptions and categories of analysis, "Comparatively Queer" powerfully transforms the paradigms of comparison.

Queerness and Christianity, often depicted as mutually exclusive, both challenge received notions of the good and the natural. Nowhere is this challenge more visible than in the identities, faiths, and communities that queer Christians have long been creating. As Christians they have staked a claim for a Christianity that is true to their self-understandings. How do queer-identified persons understand their religious lives? And in what ways do the lived experiences of queer Christians respond to traditions and reshape them in contemporary practice?

Queer Christianities integrates the perspectives of queer theory, religious studies, and Christian theology into a lively conversation--both transgressive and traditional--about the fundamental questions surrounding the lives of queer Christians. The volume contributes to the emerging scholarly discussion on queer religious experiences as lived both within communities of Christian confession, as well as outside of these established communities.

Organized around traditional Christian states of life--celibacy, matrimony, and what is here provocatively conceptualized as promiscuity--this work reflects the ways in which queer Christians continually reconstruct and multiply the forms these states of life take.

Queer Christianities challenges received ideas about sexuality and religion, yet remains true to Christian self-understandings that are open to further enquiry and to further queerness.

This timely collection of accessible essays interrogate queer television at the start of the twenty-first century. The complex political, cultural and economic milieu requires new terms and conceptual frameworks to study television and media through a queer lens. Gathering a range of well-known scholars the book takes on the relationship between sexual identity, desire, and television, breaking new ground in a context where existing critical vocabularies and research paradigms no longer hold sway in the ways they used to. The anthology sets out to confound conventional categories used to organize queer television scholarship, like "programming," "industry," "audience," "genre," and "activism." Instead, the anthology mobilizes three new terms - resonance, narrative affordance, and representational repair - creating new queer tools for studying digital television in the contemporary age. This collection is suitable for scholars and students studying queer media studies, television studies, gender studies and sexuality studies.

First published in 1987, this book presents contributions from international authorities reviewing major themes in variant sexuality. Genetic and evolutionary arguments are presented for the preponderance of paraphilia in males, whilst Freudian and psychoanalytic theories are shown to have limited scientific basis. These and other topics are reviewed in an interesting book, which will be of particular value to students of the psychology of sexuality, evolutionary biology and psychiatry, as well as those with a more general interest in the social, behavioural and biological aspects of sexuality.

"Over the last decade, Romanticism and queer theory have been mutually illuminating and incredibly productive, but this canonical 'queering' has somehow veered away from William Blake. This collection looks anew at Blake's celebrated sexual visions, to see how they might appear once compulsory heterosex has been ditched as an interpretative norm"--Provided by publisher.

As the world changes, so sexual identities are changing. In a context of globalisation, mass communication and technological advances, individuals find themselves able to make lifestyle choices in new and different ways. In this increasingly confusing world, sociologists have argued that identities are in flux, and that traditional patterns of identity and intimacy are being disrupted and reshaped, with all the implications for sexual identities that this suggests. Changing Gay Male Identities draws on the powerful life stories of twenty-one gay men to explore how individuals construct and maintain their sense of self in contemporary society. The book draws upon theoretical debates on topics such as gender, performance, sex, class, camp, race and ethnicity, to explore four aspects of identity: the role of the body in who we are relationships and communities performing in everyday life reconciling different aspects of our selves (such as religion and sexuality). In Changing Gay Male Identities Andrew Cooper assesses the magnitude of these social and sexual changes. He argues that although there are many opportunities for new forms of identity in a changing world, the possibilities can be significantly constrained, and that this has major implications for the freedoms and choices of individuals in contemporary societies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, sexuality studies, gender studies, and GLBTQ studies.

In this new full-length study of Jane Rule's life and work, Marilyn Schuster argues that Rule's novels provide a way of "writing and reading lesbian" that resists and subverts dominant discourses of gender and sexuality-both those of mainstream culture and of political and sexual subcultures.

From her earliest novel, " Desert of the Heart" (1964), Rule's fiction has provided a challenge to the concept of a fixed identity and to the identity politics founded on such a concept. Incorporating all of Jane Rule's early work-including unpublished manuscripts, letters, magazine and newspaper columns, as well as fan mail she received-Schuster also draws on interviews, conversations, and personal encounters with the author to elicit the ways in which Rule interrogates the meanings and politics of sexuality, the relationship between sexuality and language, and the stakes of communities in individual claims on identity.

Passionate Communities is a thorough, engaging, and long-overdue study of an important voice in lesbian literature and gay and lesbian politics.

Gives a fresh and contemporary take on the ways in which contemporary US sexual politics plays out on its biggest stage with analyses of Promises, Promises, Newsies, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Color Purple, and Frozen. Written accessibly and clearly for all levels of student and scholar in musical theatre as well as interdisciplinary areas of queer, gender, and cultural studies. The most up to date study available of Broadway's cultural politics.