Marriage Equality for Same-sex Couples ─ The Eu, USA and Canada

This book makes the argument that secular married couple relationships, both same and different sex, should be sanctioned and supported by the State. This proposition cannot be supported at the expense of other intimate relationships that are not analogous to marriage. Unmarried couples, same and different sex, should have the same rights and privileges as married couples. Indeed, it is time to put these artificial categories aside, in favour of intimate relational ties that individuals choose. The book therefore proposes not getting rid of marriage, rather, allowing those who wish, to be able to enter it, but at the same time ensuring that other intimate relations should have equal rights and status. To this end, the book examines the laws, policies and activism in the USA, Canada and specific countries in the EU as well as the EU as a legal entity, providing an up-to-date comparative legal and social analysis of the arguments which are currently progressing the debate for and against inclusiveness and dignity for same-sex couples. One of its main foci is on constitutional law responses to activist litigants and the varying interpretations that different countries have given similar or largely the same concepts, values and principles, contingent on specific legal cultures.

Jackie Jones is Senior Lecturer in Law at Bristol Law School, University of the West of England. She has published widely on areas related to Gender, Sexuality and the Law.