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Elizabeth Birch
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 The
Constitutional Underclass : Gays, Lesbians, and the Failure of
Class-Based Equal Protection by Evan Gerstmann
Gays
and lesbians have long been the targets of legal discrimination
(think of the 1986 Supreme Court Bowers ruling upholding
antisodomy laws, Colorado's Amendment 2 banning gay rights
legislation, the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and so on), and
all efforts to pass legislation that would give them the same
protections given to other minorities such as blacks and women
have failed. For the time being, says Evan Gerstmann, gays and
lesbians facing discrimination "can only win by appealing to
judicial sympathy and intuitions about fairness rather than by
invoking any coherent legal principle." But, he continues,
the struggle for class-based gay and lesbian rights should not be
considered an issue unto itself, but should be looked at within
the entire field of "equal protection" jurisprudence. In
that context, we learn that the courts have been reluctant to
expand the boundaries of class-based protection to include any
new group in more than two decades. Gerstmann's legal analysis is
detailed and informative, and his conclusion--that it may be more
profitable in the long run for activists to focus on rights
involved rather than on their own identities--is provocative. --Ron
Hogan From the Author This
book is about gay and lesbian rights under the Constitution. How
should courts respond when gays and lesbians seek such rights as:
serving in the military; engaging in intimate sexual behavior
without fear of arrest; or adopting children? I try not to be
narrowly focused, but rather to put the gay rights debate into a
larger context--how does the Supreme Court decide which groups do
or do not deserve constitutional protection from discrimination? I
also show how the gay rights debate is closely connected to the
ongoing debate over affirmative action. I try very hard to write
in a way that is of equal interest and accessability to experts
and non-experts alike. I think any person can read and understand
this book without special training. After all, the whole point of
writing books is to inform the public.
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Elizabeth Birch made history
Tuesday night when she took to the podium and addressed delegates
to the 2000 Democratic National Convention. The audience was at
first rather quiet, but warmed to her comments and rewarded Birch
with as she spoke with frequent and progressively stronger rounds
of applause.
Excerpt:
I am honored to speak here as a gay American.
Tonight, we celebrate the American family. But we know that
America’s family is not yet whole.
For the color of his skin, James Byrd Jr. was
dragged behind a truck in Jasper, Texas, until his body was
shattered on a drainage ditch.
Because of her faith, 14-year-old Kristi Beckel
was gunned down as she worshipped in a Texas Baptist church.
Because Matthew Shepard was gay, he was driven
into the countryside on a freezing Wyoming night, beaten and hung
on a fence to die. His gentle voice still asks "why" --
as do the families who have paid for our national lesson with
their children’s lives.
Tonight, we dedicate ourselves to healing the
fractures – soothing the wounds – to making our American
family truly whole.
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Congressional Hearing
HR 3396
Elizabeth Birch, Esq.
Human Rights Campaign
Excerpt:
Good afternoon Mr. Chairman and members of the
committee. My name is Elizabeth Birch and I am Executive Director
of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian and gay
political organization. I would like to give special thanks to
Evan Wolfson and Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund for
their hard work on this important issue over the past many months.
I appreciate the opportunity to offer testimony
today on HR 3396, which has been inappropriately labeled the
"Defense of Marriage Act." It is more appropriately
labeled "The Federal Intrusion Act of 1996." The
definition and administration of marriage has in all previous
times in our history been left to the states. The proposed
legislation is not only a bad idea, it is an unprecedented
intrusion into state sovereignty and is unconstitutional. Although
I plan to address the legal and constitutional considerations at
issue with regard to this bill, I would like to take a moment to
briefly present state of affairs with regard to gay citizens as we
head toward the 21st Century in America.
Lesbian and gay Americans are your constituents,
your sports heroes, your co-workers, your neighbors -- and in
thousands and thousands of American homes, including many of
yours, we are members of your own families. Gay Americans are
found in every community, in all walks of life, at every income
level and in all age groups. We are conservatives, liberals,
Christians, Jews, Democrats, Republicans and independents -- and
of every race...
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