Legalizing LGBT Families How the Law Shapes Parenthood

"Legalizing LGBT Families is a must read for policy makers, lawyers, activists and LGBT parents. The book tells the important story of how same-sex families make sense of a rapidly shifting legal landscape. By foregrounding the voices of LGBT parents Baumle and Compton vividly demonstrate the dedication, creativity and detective work these parents and partners must do to secure safety and protection for their families." - C. J. Pascoe,author of Dude, You're a Fag "Creatively and insightfully relying on remarkably rich data from in-depth interviews with LGBT parents and would-be parents, authors Amanda K. Baumle and DLane R. Compton meticulously document the great power that law has on LGBT families. At the same time, they also skillfully demonstrate the greater power of love: how LGBT families show resilience and resourcefulness in working with, navigating and challenging the law." - Brian Powell,co-author of Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans' Definitions of Family "Baumle and Compton provide an accessible and deep understanding of how LGBT parents negotiate the law across contexts, even in the face of restrictive and prohibitive policies. This book will appeal not only to sexualities scholars and legal theorists, but also to LGBT parents who want to better understand the obstacles on the path to parenthood." (Gender & Society) "The book succeeds in showing what various same-sex couples did to ensure that both parents were legally recognized. The stories told by the study's subjects are interesting and provide insight into why they took the actions they did." (New York Journal of Books) "[The] attention to how legal context combines with individual characteristics and social interactions to produce legal consciousness represents a significant contribution to both legal consciousness studies and the literature on LGBT families.[T]he books empirical contribution is substantial, and it holds continuing policy relevance even after the extension of marriage rights nationwide." (American Journal of Sociology)