June 15, 2020
A journalist and political science professor chronicles the fight for same-sex marriage from its beginnings through the presidential candidacy of Pete Buttigieg. In 1990, three same-sex couples applied "on a lark" for Hawaii marriage licenses. The inevitable rejection set in motion a cascade of legal and political challenges that culminated in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the U.S. In this exceptionally comprehensive but overlong and inefficiently organized account, Issenberg, Washington correspondent for the Monocle, shows how the movement lurched forward through triumphs in states like Vermont and Massachusetts and seemingly fatal setbacks such as Bill Clinton's signing of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. Advocates of marriage equality had to overcome not just political and religious foes--among them, Catholic bishops, Protestant evangelicals, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--but conflicts in their own ranks between incrementalists willing to settle for civil unions and those who saw anything less than marriage as second-class status for same-sex couples. The movement prevailed with the help of courageous opponents such as Dan Foley, a Buddhist attorney who took on the Hawaii marriage-license applicants as clients after chanting about it; and Mary Bonauto, a lawyer for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, whom former congressman Barney Frank called "our Thurgood Marshall." Issenberg's encyclopedic narrative, though written well on the sentence level, has an inelegant structure that reveals an author unable or unwilling to necessarily condense the narrative (at least 200 pages could have been cut). He also includes too many unedifying details, including an attempt to put Barack Obama's support for gay rights in context in part by stating, "Both Obama's high-school drug dealer and favorite college professor were gay men." Future journalists or historians will likely offer more efficient histories, but Issenberg's research makes the book a vital source for bookstores, libraries, and LGBTQ studies completists. An important story of a great civil rights battle told in exhaustive detail.
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July 27, 2020
Journalist Issenberg (Outpatients) depicts both sides of the debate over same-sex marriage in this comprehensive history. Issenberg begins in Hawaii in 1990, when three LGBTQ couples partnered with a local activist to apply for marriage licenses and set in motion a lawsuit that resulted in the first state or federal court decision “acknowledg that a fundamental right to marriage could extend to gay couples.” Social conservatives responded with plans to protect heterosexual marriage through the Defense of Marriage Act, while same-sex couples in other states were inspired to push for more rulings in support of gay marriage. Issenberg details the strategizing and motivations on both sides of the issue (though more attention is paid to pro-LGBTQ initiatives) as a variety of groups waged public opinion campaigns through state-level legislative agendas and proposed constitutional amendments. He also makes clear that money, in particular the strategic fund-raising of LGBTQ activist and software company founder Tim Gill, played a key role in paving the way to the 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Issenberg lucidly delineates this multifaceted and complex topic and movingly profiles key players including Ninia Baehr and Genora Dancel, original litigants in the Hawaii case. The magnitude of detail slows the proceedings somewhat, but even readers well-versed in the subject will learn something new. The result is a definitive portrait of a key victory in the battle for LGBTQ rights.
August 1, 2020
This is an exhaustive, detailed, and authoritative overview of the fight for marriage equality in the U.S. With over 700 pages of text and another couple hundred of notes, author Issenberg (The Victory Lab, 2012) focuses his investigative reporting expertise on the political and legislative wrangling that accompanied various evolving judicial rulings related to this highly politicized issue. Chapters explore two decades' worth of arguments and interpretations, court cases and filings, media coverage and special interest lobbying campaigns, polls and public opinion, profiles of lawyers and activists, and simple love stories between couples who just wanted to get married. Other issues are necessarily drawn in: AIDS, workplace discrimination, gays in the military. Issenberg keeps the story moving, providing context and balanced coverage, and discloses daily, sometimes hourly, updates about what was going on in the Obama White House as the Supreme Court was considering Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that resulted in the federal legalization of same-sex marriage in June of 2015. Issenberg's nuanced and insightful reporting brings clarity to this important milestone.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)
September 1, 2020
Issenberg (The Victory Lab) explores the history of marriage equality in the United States from 1990 to 2015, arguing that prior to 1990, marriage equality was a niche issue confined to legal speculation, as advocates tended to focus their efforts on nondiscrimination ordinances rather than marriage. After a group of LGBT couples attempted to marry in Hawaii in 1990, marriage equality quickly became prominent owing to several high-profile court cases and opposition by religious groups. Issenberg focuses his arguments on the political and legal side, explaining the major court cases, legal strategies and legislation. The legal analysis is targeted toward general readers, and the author deftly weaves the legislative and legal together to create a full picture for readers. Issenberg argues that public opinion and media played key roles in the United States' relatively swift acceptance of marriage equality, but he does not spend a lot of time in this area. Although chapters tend to meander, he focuses on personalities and motivations that inflate his already detailed analysis of Supreme Court cases and other political movements in support of equality. VERDICT A comprehensive work of civil rights history that is sure to interest political and legal enthusiasts.--Rebekah Kati, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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