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The Constitutional Underclass: Gays, Lesbians, and the Failure of Class-Based Equal Protection | 
| Author: Evan Gerstmann
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $4.69
You Save: $11.31 (71%)
Media: Paperback
Pages: 206
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0226288609
Dewey Decimal Number: 342.73087
EAN: 9780226288604
ASIN: 0226288609
Publication Date: March 15, 1999
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Condition: Ex-library book in good condition. All usual stamps and markings. Pages are clean and the binding is tight. Buy with confidence. We ship daily and guarantee satisfaction.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Gays and lesbians have long been the targets of legal discrimination (think of the 1986 Supreme Court Bowers ruling upholding antisodomy laws, Colorado's Amendment 2 banning gay rights legislation, the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and so on), and all efforts to pass legislation that would give them the same protections given to other minorities such as blacks and women have failed. For the time being, says Evan Gerstmann, gays and lesbians facing discrimination "can only win by appealing to judicial sympathy and intuitions about fairness rather than by invoking any coherent legal principle." But, he continues, the struggle for class-based gay and lesbian rights should not be considered an issue unto itself, but should be looked at within the entire field of "equal protection" jurisprudence. In that context, we learn that the courts have been reluctant to expand the boundaries of class-based protection to include any new group in more than two decades. Gerstmann's legal analysis is detailed and informative, and his conclusion--that it may be more profitable in the long run for activists to focus on rights involved rather than on their own identities--is provocative. --Ron Hogan
Product Description
When the Supreme Court struck down Colorado's Amendment 2—which would have nullified all state and local laws protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination—it was widely regarded as a victory for gay rights. Yet many gays and lesbians still risk losing their jobs, custody of their children, and even their liberty under the law. Using the Colorado initiative as his focus, Gerstmann untangles the complex standards and subtle rhetoric the Supreme Court uses to apply the equal protection clause.
The Court divides people into legal classes that receive varying levels of protection; gays and lesbians and other groups, such as the elderly and the poor, receive the least. Gerstmann reveals how these standards are used to favor certain groups over others, and also how Amendment 2 advocates used the Court's doctrine to convince voters that gays and lesbians were seeking "special rights" in Colorado.
Concluding with a call for wholesale reform of equal-protection jurisprudence, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in fair, coherent, and truly equal protection under the law.
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