Equality Practice: Civil Unions and the Future of Gay Rights Book

When Vermont legalized civil unions for same-sex couples in April 2000 -- a landmark for gay rights--activists across the political spectrum were outraged. Critics on the right claimed the law would undermine morality. Critics on the left objected that the new category of "civil unions," distinct from marriage, would consign same-sex couples to a "separate but equal" status that would ultimately prove unequal.Not so, argues America's leading scholar on gay rights and the law. In Equality Practice, Yale law professor William Eskridge shows why lesbians and gays should give up on marriage and fight the more realistic (and more constitutionally viable) battle for civil unions.When a country is divided by strongly held but opposing views, the best approach is incremental, Eskridge contends. Far from being a terrible compromise, the campaign for equality in practice rather than equality in principle will deliver what same-sex couples need: tax benefits, health insurance, property rights, and parental arrangements comparable to those of heterosexuals. This strategy, proven successful across Europe, acknowledges the uncomfortable fact that both tolerant and intolerant heterosexuals feel that marriage should be preserved for a man and a woman.A bold challenge to the don't-ask-don't-tell philosophy of the 1990s, Equality Practice charts a practical path toward real equality for same-sex couples today.Read More