Courting change
Subtitle: queer parents, judges, and the transformation of American family law
By: Kimberly D. Richman.
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 267
ISBN-13: 9780814775950
Subjects: Gay parents -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States
Description: This work examines the inconsistencies in judicial decisions surrounding the rights of gay and lesbian parents and discusses how those inconsistencies have had a negative impact on same-sex parenting and families. Drawing on every recorded judicial decision in gay and lesbian adoption and custody cases over the last fifty years, the author demonstrates how parental and sexual identities are formed and interpreted in law, and how gay and lesbian parents can harness indeterminacy to transform family law.
Notes: "This project began as a doctoral dissertation at the University of California, Irvine's Department of Criminology, Law and Society."

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: A double-edged sword? : indeterminacy and family law; title: At the intersection of sexuality, family, and law; title: Negotiating parental and sexual identity; title: Right or wrong? : the indeterminacy of custody and adoption rights; title: Talking back : judicial dissents and social change; title: Conclusion : mastering the double-edged sword.