Equality for Same-Sex Couples: The Legal Recognition of Gay Partnerships in Europe and the United States

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University of Chicago Press, 2010 M02 15 - 397 páginas
During the past three decades, nations all over the world have been debating whether to allow same-sex couples to marry, or at least grant these couples various rights associated with marriage. In Equality for Same-Sex Couples, Yuval Merin presents the first comparative study of the legal regulation of same-sex partnerships worldwide, as well as a unique survey of the status of same-sex couples in Europe.

Merin begins by providing a historical overview of the transformation of marriage from antiquity to the present. He then identifies and critically compares four principal models for the legal regulation and recognition of same-sex partnerships: civil marriage, registered partnership, domestic partnership, and cohabitation. Merin concludes that all of the models except civil marriage discriminate against gays and lesbians just as the "separate but equal" doctrine discriminated against African Americans; thus, so-called alternatives to marriage, even if they provide the same rights and benefits as marriage, are inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional.
 

Contenido

1 Introduction
1
2 The Changing Institution of Marriage and the Exclusion of SameSex Couples
6
3 Registered Partnerships in the Nordic Countries
61
4 SameSex Partnerships in the Netherlands
111
5 Recognition of SameSex Partnerships in Other European Countries
130
6 The Cohabitation Model
160
7 SameSex Partnerships in the United States
177
8 Contrasts between the Models of Recognition and the Status of SameSex Partnerships in the United States and Northern Europe
237
10 Alternatives to Marriage and the Doctrine of Separate but Equal
278
11 The Feasibility of Opening Up Marriage to SameSex Couples
308
12 Conclusion
338
European SameSex Legislation in Translation
343
Developments in the United Kingdom Israel South Africa and Brazil
355
Bibliography
359
Index
385
Derechos de autor

9 Domestic Partnership Registered Partnership and Marriage
263

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Página vii - There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths, and point out when what were once truths are true no longer, but also to commence new practices, and set the example of more enlightened conduct, and better taste and sense in human life.

Acerca del autor (2010)

Yuval Merin is law lecturer at the College of Management School of Law in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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