• Selected
• Entire List

Abstract:
In 1989, Tom Stoddard and Paula Ettelbrick, attorneys with the gay rights group Lambda Legal, published side-by-side opposing essays about whether marriage for same-sex couples should be a movement priority. Rutgers Law Review is publishing a 2009 symposium commemorating the 20th anniversary of these now-iconic essays. This article is part of that symposium. It places the Ettelbrick essay, and the groundbreaking case of Braschi v. Stahl Associates decided the same year, in the context of the gay rights movement's strong support of family diversity. It then critiques the contemporary right-wing marriage movement for blaming all social problems on family diversity/aka the decline of life-long heterosexual marriage. The gay rights marriage equality movement has fallen short as well for its acceptance of the primacy of marriage and its concomitant retreat from justice for diverse families and relationships. The article offers an alternative vision in which the law does not privilege marriage.

lesbian and gay families

Abstract:
The family has changed over time, as has the law concerning families and relationships. Thank goodness. Until recent decades, the law punished nonmarital sex, delineated separate spheres for men and women, and restricted the grounds for ending marriage. The sexual revolution, feminism, and the demand for divorce were the social phenomena that facilitated these changes. Today we take for granted that marriage is not the right dividing line for the rights and obligations of parents. We now must revise our laws to protect the economic security and emotional peace of mind of the full variety of today's families and relationships.

marriage, families, feminism, sexual revolution, end of illegitimacy

Abstract:
In my earlier work, I have argued that biology is not necessary for the creation of parental rights. This article addresses the corollary that biology is not sufficient to create parental rights. The law should provide a mechanism to facilitate recognition of a mother-child unit as a family without a father, the same status available to a single woman who adopts a child. The article lays out the range of circumstances under which a man agrees to donate semen to enable a lesbian to bear a child. It argues that a waiver of parental rights should be permitted through enforcement of agreements, statutes delineating that a semen donor is not a parent, and/or statutes allowing voluntary termination of parental rights. It also draws on growing open adoption theory to advocates enforcement of agreements granting semen donors a limited, non-parental role in a child's life.

lesbian mothers, families, gender

Abstract:
Over the past thirty years, lesbians and gay men have increasingly challenged conventional definitions of marriage and the family. In this brief article, the authors tell the story of gay people and family law in the United States across this period. They divide their discussion into two sections: issues regarding the recognition of the same-sex couple relationship and issues regarding gay men and lesbians as parents. These issues overlap, of course, but since family law discussions commonly treat adult-adult issues of all sorts separately from parent-child issues, the authors believe it convenient and helpful to do so as well.