The Limits to Union : Same-sex Marriage and the Politics of Civil Rights

From its legal recognition in Hawaii in 1993, the idea and possibility of same-sex marriage has been a fuse that has ignited political controversy across the United States to the world.

This controversy sets forces championing the expansion of court-ordered rights against conservative and religious partisans who no longer accept the rationale for expanding civil rights. "The Limits to Union explores this incendiary debate and explains the political discourses and tactics that overturn decisions of state courts favorably inclined toward same-sex marriage and gay rights.

The opposition of public majorities to court-mandated rights is shown to be an enduring yet postmodern manifestation of political sovereignty, one with broad implications for how we must now come to think about civil rights.

Building on developments in postmodern, postcolonial, and queer legal theory, Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller argues that the controversy over legal rights for same-sex marriages has exploded onto the American stage in response to deep-seated anxieties over the fragmented nature of community, changing social hierarchies, and economic and national security in the face of globalization.

He shows that the legal fate of the same-sex marriage is more than an issue of the social and political acceptance of lesbians and gays as it rapidly becomes a central site for re-imagining the contours of political sovereignty.

This book will appeal to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in sociolegal studies, political science, sociology, and gay and lesbian studies.

Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller is Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Hawaii.