Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is about the legal battles in the courtrooms around the United States that have been part of the struggle for lesbian and gay rights. In her book Another Mother Tongue, Judy Grahn explains the symbolism of the rainbow in the lesbian and gay movement in several ways. Civil rights movements succeed when they make arguments that win. The lesbian and gay civil rights movement has used these two types of arguments (individual merit and equal opportunity) in its efforts to gain public sphere benefits for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. Every civil rights movement has two forums in which it can make effective legal arguments: courts and legislatures. Legal scholarship is brimming with discussion about the limitations on courts and whether they should play an active or constrained role in civil rights movements that seek to create change by expanding rights.