Local lesbian author Nancy D. Polikoff will read from her book ‘Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage’ Monday, Feb. 25, at Busboys and Poets.
(Photo by Lauren R. Taylor)
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ZACK ROSEN
Friday, February 22, 2008
Winning
same-sex
marriage
rights
remains
at
the
top
of
the
legislative
wish
list
for
many
gay
rights
activists,
but
one
lesbian
author
is
urging
readers
to
reconsider
the
way
they
look
at
marriage.
Nancy
D.
Polikoff,
Washington-
based
lesbian
author
of
the
just-released
“Beyond
(Straight
and
Gay)
Marriage:
Valuing
All
Families
Under
The
Law,”
believes
that
there
are
other
ways
of
looking
at
the
marriage
equality
movement.
“Marriage
for
same-sex
couples
will
give
same-sex
couples
what
married
people
have,
but
that’s
often
the
problem
in
the
law,”
says
Polikoff,
an
American
University
College
of
Law
professor
who
also
helped
develop
the
laws
governing
second-parent
adoption
and
joint
adoption
for
same-sex
couples
in
D.C.
“A
gay
man
and
lesbian
…
may
make
a
commitment
to
raise
a
child
that
may
or
may
not
be
a
biological
child
of
both
of
them,
or
two
un-partnered
people
decide
they’re
going
to
retire
to
a
home
together
and
need
a
certain
set
of
protections
for
the
wellbeing
of
their
relationship.”
Polikoff,
who
will
be
appearing
at
Busboys
and
Poets
bookstore
on
Feb.
25,
feels
strongly
that
simply
dividing
relationships
into
marriage
and
everything
else
limits
the
rights
of
any
kind
of
family.
The
impetus
for
the
book
was
to
educate
a
younger
demographic
on
the
true
scope
of
marriage
equality
as
it
relates
to
the
law.
“I
discovered
that
a
generation
of
young
adults
had
grown
up
never
knowing
that
the
gay
rights
movement
was
part
of
a
movement
in
support
of
diverse
forms
of
family,”
she
says.
“They
grew
up
believing
that
if
you
support
same-sex
marriage
they
had
addressed
all
they
needed
to
in
support
of
the
needs
of
LGBT
family.
I
wanted
to
recapture
that
history
and
describe
another
way
to
think
about
the
laws
of
family.”
POLIKOFF
HAS
BEEN
INTERESTED
in
gay
family
law
since
she
was
in
law
school,
but
the
issue
has
gained
personal
relevance
for
her
as
well.
The
author
has
a
partner
of
close
to
20
years
and
a
daughter,
but
the
message
in
her
book
is
also
relevant
to
heterosexuals
in
non-traditional
relationships.
Polikoff
says
she’s
heard
a
number
of
personal
stories
from
straight
couples
that
are
disenfranchised
by
existing
marriage
benefits.
“Somebody
on
my
own
faculty
is
angry
about
having
to
marry
her
partner
in
order
to
get
health
insurance,
because
at
my
university
the
only
domestic
partners
who
can
cover
each
other
are
same-sex
—
different-sex
couples
have
to
get
married.
That
is
the
wrong
way
to
think
about
employee
benefits.
It’s
better
to
think
that
if
we
have
to
cover
families,
let’s
cover
families
the
way
we
decide
them.”
The
arguments
in
“Beyond
Marriage”
become
more
pointed
in
light
of
the
2008
presidential
elections.
In
the
book,
Polikoff
writes
that
the
Bush
administration
has
put
$750
million
into
funding
marriage
promotion,
based
on
outdated
theories
and
that,
in
Polikoff’s
words,
“the
decline
of
long-term
heterosexual
marriage
is
responsible
for
all
our
social
problems.”
“This
is
the
rhetoric
of
the
right-wing
marriage
movement,”
Polikoff
says.
“[They’re
spending
it
on
this]
instead
of
actually
spending
it
on
programs
that
would
really
address
poverty,
income
and
equality
and
the
other
things
that
are
core
social
welfare
issues
…
It’s
not
something
I’ve
heard
the
presidential
candidates
talk
about,
but
I’m
hopeful
that
any
Democratic
administration
would
try
to
address
social
welfare
issues
directly
without
trying
to
argue
that
everyone
getting
married
is
the
way
to
solve
those
problems.”
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