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Why Marriage Matters by Evan Wolfson
WHY MARRIAGE MATTERS
America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry
by Evan Wolfson “One of the 100 most influential people in the world” – Time Magazine“The distinctive gravity of marriage shines through Wolfson’s stories of gay couples seeking recognition.”— New York Times Book Review“Wolfson articulates the pioneering arguments that have made him one of the nation’s most influential gay activists.”— LA Times Book Review“Armed with Wolfson’s arguments, you could sell anyone with an IQ over room temperature on the wisdom and humanity of marriage equality.”— The Oregonian“…thoughtful, reasonable, and eminently worthy…”— Kirkus Reviews- “Perhaps the most important gay-marriage primer ever written…. [A] cogent and moving argument.”— Time Out New York
Civil rights attorney Evan Wolfson has been on the front lines in the battle for the freedom to marry for the past twenty years. In his book, WHY MARRIAGE MATTERS: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry (Simon & Schuster; June 2, 2005; $13.00 paper), with a new foreword by the author, Wolfson presents a compelling case for ending discrimination in marriage.
A truly wonderful resource, Why Marriage Matters is written for two groups of people:
those who already support marriage equality, and want to to have compelling stories, the best arguments, a little bit of history, a little bit of law, and some of what the opposition is saying and how to respond-all in one place, one tool—so they can make the case for marriage equality to their friends, family, and fellow citizens
people who are not yet comfortable with marriage for gay people, but who want to be fair—people who are really wrestling with questions that deserve answers. This book takes their concerns seriously and helps them push past their discomfort and understand what "gay marriage" is really all about.
Wolfson offers concise, well-reasoned responses to ten fundamental questions about gay people and the freedom to marry:
What is marriage?
Why now?
Will allowing gay couples to marry harm society?
Isn't marriage for procreation?
What about the children?
Isn't marriage a religious matter?
Why not use another word?
Will marriage in one state be honored in others?
Is marriage equality a question of civil rights?
Why does the freedom to marry matter to me?
“Why shouldn't we protect all kids, support all families, treat all Americans equally?” Wolfson asks.
As Wolfson explains, the demand for marriage equality is a question of civil rights—and it is important for America. “At its core, the freedom to marry movement is about the same thing every civil rights struggle has been about, taking seriously our country's promise to be a nation its citizens can make better—its promise to be a place where people don't have to give up their differences or hide them in order to be treated equally.”
About the Author
Evan Wolfson is founder and Executive Director of Freedom to Marry. Recognizing his longtime civil rights leadership in the movement for marriage equality, in 2004 TIME magazine named Evan one of the "100 most influential people in the world." Evan was co-counsel in the historic Hawaii marriage case, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, served in the Peace Corps in West Africa, and is the author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality and Gay People's Right to Marry.
Talking points for Why Marriage Matters by Evan Wolfson
Q. Isn’t marriage a religious matter?
A. Wolfson responds that the issue before the government is equality in the right to marry. Furthermore, any given faith should, and will, retain the right to decide which couples it will or will not marry in its own religious rites.
Q. Isn’t marriage about procreation?
A. Wolfson responds that people have many reasons for wanting to marry—love, commitment, security—and there has never been a legal requirement that married couples have children (in fact many married heterosexual couples never do, while many gay parents want the freedom to marry precisely because they are raising kids and want to do so within marriage).
Q. What about the children of gay marriages? Won’t they be confused at best?
A. Wolfson counters that those who argue for discrimination in marriage are harming children more by denying them the best legal protections and economic safety-net that marriage would bring their family. All children should enjoy the tangible and intangible benefits that marriage can bring.
Q. Why not call same-sex unions something other than “marriages,” as many have suggested?
A. Wolfson explains that only marriage can assure full equality under the law, as well as full security and protection for families. Creating a “parallel, non-marriage marital status” falls far short of the full equal rights the Constitution guarantees to all Americans, including gay Americans. As he points out, there is no other system of legal protection; civil unions are currently available only in Vermont and legal protection for families should not "sputter in and out like cell phone service."
WHY MARRIAGE MATTERS:
America, Equality, and Gay People’s Right to Marry
By Evan Wolfson
Simon & Schuster
A graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School, Evan Wolfson offers us the most definitive argument we have read on why gay marriage is really as American as apple pie. In a nation that values individual rights, why should anyone deny two people the right to legally commit themselves to each other?
Mother Jones
October 10, 2005
MICHAEL BECKEL
Beckel interviews Evan Wolfson who has been in "the trenches of gay rights advocacy, leading the charge to end the exclusion of gay couples from marriage" for over 20 years. They discuss his book, Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry and the continuing momentum of the marriage equality movement.
The Capital Times
September 22, 2005
JUDITH DAVIDOFF
Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family and Evan Wolfson, head of Freedom to Marry debated "why marriage matters" -- also the title of each author's book, last night in Madison, WI. While Stanton believes marriage should remain an "exclusive province of heterosexual couples," Wolfson argues that this denial of marriage to a group of people is contrary to the American traditions of equality and justice. Wolfson stressed that marriage is a powerful statement about the love and commitment between two people, and legal barriers to that commitment "is hurtful and wrong. In America we all have the right to be both equal and different and no one has to give up their differences to be treated equally under the law." A packed theater listened to the debate, as a proposed anti-gay marriage amendment is likely to reach voters in Fall 2006. Wolfson is confident that "fair-minded people will rise to fairness" once they have had a chance to receive and absorb information about the proposed ban.
BuzzFlash
August 15, 2005
BuzzFlash interviews Evan Wolfson, author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry and head of Freedom to Marry. A review in the Oregonian said it best: "Armed with Wolfson's arguments, you could sell anyone with an IQ over room temperature on the wisdom and humanity of marriage equality."
Air America
June 30, 2005
Al Franken interviews Evan Wolfson, author of Why Marriage Matters and the importance of ending the discrimination of same-sex couples from marriage.
Library Journal (July 2004)
July 13, 2004
HARRY CHARLES, ESQ.
Wolfson shows that marriage has changed in meaning over the years and points out how similar fears were raised in the 1960s to justify denying marriage to interracial couples.
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