Courts Liberalism And Rights: Gay Law And Politics In The United States and Canada (Queer Politics Queer Theories) - Softcover

Pierceson, Jason

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592134017 ISBN 13: 9781592134014

Publisher: Temple University Press, 2005

Synopsis

In the courts, the best chance for achieving a broad set of rights for gays and lesbians lies with judges who view liberalism as grounded in an expansion of rights rather than a constraint of government activity. At a time when most gay and lesbian politics focuses only on the issue of gay marriage, Courts, Liberalism, and Rights guides readers through a nuanced discussion of liberalism, court rulings on sodomy laws and same-sex marriage, and the comparative progress gays and lesbians have made via the courts in Canada. As debates continue about the ability of courts to affect social change, Jason Pierceson argues that this is possible. He claims that the greatest opportunity for reform via the judiciary exists when a judiciary with broad interpretive powers encounters a political culture that endorses a form of liberalism based on broadly conceived individual rights; not a negative set of rights to be held against the state, but a set of rights that recognizes the inherent dignity and worth of every individual.

About this title

About the Author

Jason Pierceson is Assistant Professor of Political and Legal Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Edition details

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1592134017
• ISBN 13: 9781592134014
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264