Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution

Evan Gerstmann is Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1996) and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School (cum laude, 1986). He is the author of two books on constitutional law: Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution (2003) and The Constitutional Underclass: Gays, Lesbians, and the Failure of Class-Based Equal Protection (1999), and has coauthored a third book, Academic Freedom at the Dawn of a New Century: How Terrorism, Governments, and Culture Wars Impact Free Speech (2006). His other publications have appeared in PS: Political Science and Politics and The Journal of International Law and International Relations, and his works have been reviewed in numerous journals, including The New Republic, The Washington Post, The Nation, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

1. Introduction; 2. Reason and prejudice: is the heterosexual monopoly on marriage rational?; 3. Looking for stricter scrutiny: sexism, heterosexism, and class-based equal protection; 4. The fundamental right to marry; 5. Same-sex marriage and the fundamental right to marry; 6. Should courts create new rights? 7. Identifying fundamental rights; 8. Democracy, neutrality, and the consistency of principle; 9. Principles and practicalities.