A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples (10th Ed) by Hayden Curry (Editor), Denis Clifford, Frederick Hertz, Robin Leonard
Nolo Press legal guides provide useful and accurate information on how to manage your own affairs or, failing this, how to hire a lawyer and negotiate the court system. The rapid changes in gay and lesbian life in the past 30 years have not been reflected in the legal codes of most states, and without enforceable written agreements, gay and lesbian people may find such crucial matters as inheritance, legal guardianship, child custody, and support left to the whim of a judge or state agency. As the writers of this volume (first published in 1980) point out, "married couples' relationships are defined by law," while lesbian and gay couples have the freedom--and responsibility--to create their own legal relationships. Agreements drawn up in advance provide guidance for a time when all is not moonbeams and madness. Tear-out forms and sample documents are included. --Regina Marler
This book is designed to help lesbian and gay couples understand the laws that affect them and to take charge of the legal aspects of their lives. Much of the material covered can also be very useful for lesbians and gays who aren't in a couple.
Many of the legal consequences of "coupling" are immediately apparent, but many others don't surface until times of stress: misunderstanding, separation or death. Married couples' relationships are defined by law; lesbian and gay couples, as of January 1996, can't legally marry. This discrimination can mean, among other things, higher estate tax rates and insurance payments, the unavailability of marriage discount prices or memberships, and significant obstacles in adopting, but it also allows lesbian and gay couples the freedom to create their own legal relationships.
This is an optimistic book. Our purpose is to explain your legal alternatives and show you how to use them to contribute to a harmonious and productive life together. We feel strongly that discussing and planning the financial, practical and legal aspects of a relationship leads to greater understanding and trust. It's possible to use the law in a positive, conflict-avoiding way. Unfortunately, however, there's also a less happy theme to this book: failure to work out your legal relationship with each other can lead to surprising, and dire, consequences. We've heard too many horror stories not to warn you.
This is also a practical book. We supply sample form legal documents such as living together agreements, durable powers of attorney, wills, parenting agreements and the like so you can design and prepare your own documents. We focus on the nitty-gritty of daily life; we spend little time discussing broader political concerns, such as the essential struggle of lesbians and gays to remove prejudice from the laws and culture of America. One of the happiest results of this struggle is that it is now matter-of-fact that many thousands of lesbians and gay men live together as couples in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.
...Most lesbian and gay people we know are wary of "the law," even if they're lawyers themselves, and for good reason. For eons, the law has been a force for oppression. The litany of codified homophobia includes sodomy laws, loitering laws, exclusion from the military, prohibitions against child custody-the list goes on and on. In addition, the law has permitted-and in some cases even encouraged-many other types of oppression, such as job and housing discrimination, and police entrapment. Obviously, a legal system that makes people criminals because of sexual orientation doesn't engender trust.
...The law tends to be cumbersome, time-consuming, expensive and incredibly picky. As you'll see throughout this book, we urge you to avoid courts and litigation if at all possible. But avoiding lawsuits doesn't mean you can avoid the legal system altogether. The fact that lesbian and gay couples are no longer in the closet and live together openly necessarily brings them into contact with the meshes of the law...What we can tell you generally is that the opportunities for legal hassles to intrude into a couple's life are endless, and the best way to avoid entanglements with the law is to take matters into your own hands. -- From the Introduction
Our Mission: To engage, connect, and empower people to make the world a better place for children of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender parents and families.
he Love Makes a Family photo-text exhibit is distributed by Family Diversity Projects, Inc., which was founded in 1996 by photographer Gigi Kaeser, and writer, Peggy Gillespie.
Family Diversity Projects has been touring multiple copies of Love Makes a Family to great acclaim over the past years. They have the experience and expertise to help your group show the exhibit with maximum impact in your community.
Click HERE for book information on Love Makes a Family : Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Parents and Their Families by Gigi Kaeser (Photographer), Peggy Gillespie, Kath Weston (Introduction)
WeAreFamily is a voice of informed straight, lesbian and gay people who have chosen to love and support our gay and lesbian relatives and friends by working to spread truth about homosexuality. Our focus is on young people because they generally feel so desperately alone.
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