Mezey's work is an excellent primer on high-profile gay rights issues such as same-sex marriage and freedom of association. Superbly indexed by subject heading as well as case law, with an invaluable bibliography, and aimed at a scholarly audience, this is recommended mainly for academic and law libraries.

Library Journal

In sharing her nuanced feelings about the role of courts, Mezey also provides succint and accessible overviews of the legal issues and the case law.... Recommended.

Choice Reviews

A valuable resource for attorneys and scholars.

Booklist

Gay Families and the Courts is a masterful survey of American case law affecting sexual minorities in the policy areas of parenting, marriage, schools, and the Boy Scouts. In characteristic fashion, Susan Gluck Mezey distills essential judicial decisions down to accessible cores and then fashions lively narratives from the array. The chapters on the Boy Scouts and on anti-gay bullying and harassment in primary and secondary education are especially compelling.

Daniel R. Pinello, author of Gay Rights and American Law and America's Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage

Mezey (political science?Loyola Chicago) is an established author in the legal rights realm as it relates to women and minority groups. The relationship between public policy and the law as it pertains to LGBT issues is explored in an attempt to clarify where the courts stand with respect to the extent to which gay rights permeates marriage and the family, as well as the level to which a maturing framework for social change manifests itself within an evolving legal system. Mezey?s work is an excellentprimer for the researcher of high-profile gay rights issues, such as same-sex marriage and freedom of association. The manner in which judges in various states have analyzed, dissected, and parsed opposing arguments is presented in great detail. Common legal trends that cross state lines are noted, as the author explains the challenges facing plaintiffs who pursue untested notions. Mezey concludes that the concept of a constitutional guarantee of the right to same-sex marriage is doomed to failure as longas the judiciary refuses to embrace a theory of social change which incorporates a framework for marriage that includes both procreation and the social well-being of children within a society that permits marriage between members of the same sex. Supe

Criminal Law Library

Gay Americans have turned to the courts to seek full recognition of their rights not only as individuals, but as spouses, as parents, and as youth entrusted to others' care. Here, in one place, is a timely, comprehensive account of the evolving jurisprudence of these issues-and an even-handed assessment of whether this litigation-based strategy has been successful.

Patrick Egan, Assistant Professor of Politics, New York University