Gaylaw
: Challenging the Apartheid of the Closet by
William N. Eskridge
This book provides a
comprehensive analysis of the legal issues concerning gender and
sexual nonconformity in the United States. Part One, which covers
the years from the post-Civil War period to the 1980s, is a
history of state efforts to discipline and punish the behavior of
homosexuals and other people considered to be deviant. During this
period such people could get by only at the cost of suppressing
their most basic feelings and emotions. Part Two addresses
contemporary issues. Although it is no longer illegal to be openly
gay in America, homosexuals still suffer from state discrimination
in the military and in other realms, and private discrimination
and violence against gays is prevalent. William Eskridge presents
a rigorously argued case for the "sexualization" of the
First Amendment, showing why, for example, same-sex ceremonies and
intimacy should be considered "expressive conduct"
deserving the protection of the courts. The author draws on legal
reasoning, sociological studies, and history to develop an
effective response to the arguments made in defense of the
military ban. The concluding part of the book locates the author's
legal arguments within the larger currents of liberal theory and
integrates them into a general stance toward freedom, gender
equality, and religious pluralism.
Homosexuality
and American Public Life by Christopher
Wolfe (Preface), William Kristol (Introduction)
An imposing array of scientists, psychologists,
philosophers, and lawyers make the definitive case that
homosexuality is both a moral and psychological disorder and a
matter for compassionate but urgent public concern. Not content
merely to restate the traditional moral position, these writers
address the homosexual movement's most compelling arguments with
both sympathy and a relentless commitment to the truth. Part One
of the book, devoted to the scientific and medical aspects of
homosexuality, features a comprehensive examination of the
putative biological origins of same-sex attraction, a survey of
its psychological roots, and a provocative discussion of the
disastrous results of identifying AIDS as a "gay
disease." Part Two contains an analysis of the natural law
arguments about the morality of homosexual acts. Part Three deals
with the attitude of law and public policy toward homosexuality.
Sappho
Goes to Law School by Ruthann Robson.
Ruthann Robson's canny, well-written essays on
lesbian legal theory and pedagogy, rooted in her experience as a
lesbian professor at a progressive law school, offer a sparkling
application of poststructural analysis, queer theory, and
cautious, common-sense feminism to a wide range of legal problems
and possibilities. She begins by imagining Sappho as a modern-day
law student, with the hope of uncovering Sapphic rather than
Socratic methodologies in legal theory: "How could [invoking
Sappho] change the ways in which we understand, practice, and
apply law? What if we adopted the Sapphic lyric as a mode of
communication and understanding rather than Socratic
argumentation?"
Included are essays on lesbians and criminal
justice, same-sex marriage, child custody cases, and the role of
personal experience in postmodern theorizing. In her provocative
closing essay, "Lesbian Sex in a Law School Classroom,"
Robson describes the difficulties of teaching a course entitled
"Sexuality and the Law" to a diverse group of students,
some of whom object to the word "sex" appearing on their
law school transcript, while others cannot help but unburden their
private lives to her during her office hours. With its multitude
of stories and its playful ambivalence toward personal narrative,
even the theory-weary will find Sappho Goes to Law School
stimulating and unusual. --Regina Marler
