Same-sex Marriage: The Personal and the Political

Kathleen A. Lahey, Kevin Alderson

Insomniac Press, 2004 - Political Science - 380 pages

The past year has seen landmark court rulings in various parts of Canada and the USA making it legal for gay men and lesbian women to be married. The same-sex marriage phenomenon is characterised on the one hand by intense personal joys, and on the other by long-standing activism and impressive legal reasoning. In their own words, couples from across the world tell why they decided to get married, and how this fact has changed their lives. At the same time, the personalities behind the legal fight for equality are profiled. This juxtaposition creates an engaging narrative and provides a remarkable case study of how progressive social change takes place.

About the author

Kathleen A. Lahey was the lawyer for three of the B.C. couples who won the right to marry from the B.C. Court of Appeal as of July 8, 2003. She is the author of Are We 'Persons' Yet? Law and Sexuality in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 1999), and has published and consulted on a wide range of legal issues relating to equality and human rights. The founding editor of the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, she has also served on various advisory boards, including the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee of the Ontario Bar Association, Egale Canada, the Ontario Advisory Council on Women's Issues, and the Ontario Fair Tax Commission. She lives in Kingston, Ontario, where she is a professor at Queen's University Faculty of Law. Dr. Kevin Alderson is an associate professor of counselling psychology at the University of Calgary. He has practiced psychology for twenty-five years. He is editor of the Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy and has recently co-authored the first Canadian edition of Counselling: A Comprehensive Profession. Dr. Alderson belongs to the Canadian Federation of Clinical Hypnosis, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the American Psychological Association.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Same-sex Marriage: The Personal and the Political
• Authors: Kathleen A. Lahey, Kevin Alderson
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Insomniac Press, 2004
• ISBN: 1894663632, 9781894663632
• Length: 380 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / General; Social Science / LGBTQ+ Studies / Gay Studies; Social Science / LGBTQ+ Studies / General; Social Science / LGBTQ+ Studies / Lesbian Studies