As Americans wrestle with red-versus-blue debates over traditional
values, defense of marriage, and gay rights, reason often seems to
take a back seat to emotion. In response, David Richards, a widely
respected legal scholar and long-time champion of gay rights,
reflects upon the constitutional and democratic principles-relating
to privacy, intimate life, free speech, tolerance, and
conscience-that underpin these often heated debates.
The distillation of Richards's thirty-year advocacy for the
rights of gays and lesbians, his book provides a reflective
treatise on basic human rights that touch all of our lives. Drawing
upon his own experiences as a gay man, Richards interweaves
personal observations with philosophical, political, judicial, and
psychological insights to make a compelling case that gays should
be entitled to the same rights and protections that every American
enjoys. Indeed, the call for gay rights can trace its lineage back
to the powerful protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s, which
demanded racial and sexual equality and ultimately overthrew the
bigoted status quo.
Richards focuses particularly on two key Supreme Court cases:
the 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick upholding Georgia's
anti-sodomy laws and the 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas
striking down Texas anti-sodomy laws and overturning Bowers. He
shows how Bowers arose in a period of constitutional crisis over
the right to privacy and examines the opinions in light of the
Court's division in Roe v. Wade. He then shows that Lawrence must
be understood in the context of later cases, notably Casey and
Romer, which required that Bowers be reconsidered and overruled.
Along the way, he examines current debates over gays in the
military and same-sex marriage, assesses the Massachusetts Supreme
Court's decision to permit gay marriage, and critiques the 1996
Defense of Marriage Act.
Eloquent and impassioned, Richards's work crystallizes the
essence of the argument for a much more expansive and tolerant view
of gay rights in America. It also offers a touching account of one
gay man's very personal struggle to find the voice he needed to
speak truth to the powerful forces of discrimination.
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