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Marriage equality and the transformation of gay rights are among the most important and also among the least understood social changes in modern times. In
Rainbow after the Storm, Michael J. Rosenfeld provides a comprehensive new and compelling analysis of who made these social changes and how. He relies on many different kinds of evidence to explain why marriage equality has achieved success when other progressive American social movements have stalled.
List of contents
- Preface
- 1. Introduction
- Part 1, Gay Rights and the antecedents of Marriage Equality 1950s-1990
- 2. The 1950s and 1960s
- 3. Stonewall and the 1970s
- 4. The 1980s
- Part 2, Attitudes toward gay rights begin to change
- 5. The 1990s, Fulcrum of Change: Politics and Culture
- 6. The courts begin to appreciate gay rights: Romer and Baehr, 1996
- 7. On Coming Out
- 8. Public Opinion Change
- 9. The Early 2000s
- Part 3: Marriage Equality Breakthroughs in the Courts
- 10. Perry and Windsor
- 11. April, Jayne, and their children
- 12. On Children's Outcomes
- 13. DeBoer v. Snyder trial
- 14. Obergefell v Hodges
- Part 4: The Broader Implications of Marriage Equality
- 15. Authenticity, Respectability, and the Desire for Marriage
- 16. Many Closets
- 17. Displacing and Non-displacing Movements
- 18. Social Science in the Courtroom
- 19. Afterword: A few Sobering Reminders
- Index of Abbreviations
- Interviews
- Cases
- Bibliography
About the author
Michael J. Rosenfeld is Professor of Sociology at Stanford University. He studies mating, dating, divorce, and the changing American family. He has published research about family history and especially the rise of non-traditional unions, same-sex couples, and interracial unions. He is interested in personal politics, national politics, the politics of intimate relationships, and the politics of parenthood.
Summary
A detailed story of how social science contributed to gay rights gains in the courts.
For most of American history, public opinion was strongly opposed to gay rights. Marriage equality had negligible public support throughout the 1970s-1980s. Yet, starting in the 1990s, American opinion toward marriage equality changed more than any other attitude in the history of American public opinion. In Rainbow after the Storm, Michael J. Rosenfeld explains how attitudes toward marriage equality changed so much, and how public opinion change drove change at the ballot box and in the courts. As Rosenfeld shows, in three crucial same-sex marriage trials, the supporters and opponents of marriage equality faced off. Rosenfeld describes the struggles of the same-sex couples who, with few resources at their disposal, and against formidable state and religious opponents, sued for the right to marry and eventually won. The first comprehensive analysis of the marriage equality movement in the U.S., The Rainbow after the Storm tells the stories of key individuals, the court battles, and the society-wide explanations for the rapid liberalization of attitudes toward gay rights that made same-sex marriage the law of the U.S. sooner than almost anyone thought was possible.
Additional text
Rosenfeld explores the historical development of the public acceptance of gay rights but adds a sociological analysis of the conditions for that acceptance, using public opinion, legal analysis, and qualitative case studies. This makes the book a great resource for students interested in exploring the topic through multiple methodologies. The connections drawn to other marginalized groups in the concluding chapters will also benefit students broadly interested in social justice.
