Just released: Beacon Press' new book "Courting Equality."
Members of First Parish in Waltham are among those who worked to support marriage equality in Massachusetts.
One of the now-thousands of same sex couples legally married in Massachusetts.
Equal Marriage in Massachusetts Celebrated Through "Courting Equality"
May 16, 2007
On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in their landmark ruling on the case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, granted equal marriage benefits to same-sex couples. The decision provoked a searing public debate over the meaning of marriage and family, civil rights, and the role of religion in law and society. But the experiment went forward nonetheless: after a 180-day waiting period, thousands of Massachusetts gays and lesbians married in May of 2004 and, remarkably, the sky did not fall.Through engaging storytelling and powerful photographs, Beacon Press's remarkable new book Courting Equality takes readers through the volatile public debate following the decision and introduces some of the many lesbian and gay families who have taken advantage of equal marriage laws. The book is written by Patricia A. Gozemba and Karen Kahn, with photographs by Marilyn Humphries.
Through this beautifully presented book, the reality that in Massachusetts, equal marriage has not destroyed the family but rather has reinforced the importance of love, commitment, fairness, and equality to the functioning of healthy democratic communities is abundantly demonstrated.
Celebrating the publication of the book, Rev. William G. Sinkford, UUA President wrote, "Courting Equality offers timely and vivid testimony to the power of commitment. Gozemba and Kahn take great care in tracing the complex legal and legislative processes that resulted in the first legal same-sex weddings. These fascinating behind-the-scenes stories are valuable reminders that the profound historic events surrounding the Goodridge case were played out on an intimate, human scale, in the lives of real families. Marilyn Humphries' photographs are a gift to us all. They provide moving and eloquent documentation of each stage in the struggle to end discrimination in the Massachusetts marriage statutes. Courting Equality bears witness to the determination, the love, and, ultimately, the jubilation of thousands of ordinary people who believed in an extraordinary dream."
For more information contact info @ uua.org.
Last updated on Thursday, May 17, 2007.
