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Same-Sex Marriage, Legal Mobilization, and Politics of Rights. Martin Dupuis. New York: Peter Lang. 2002. 196 pp. ISBN: 0-820-45560-1. $29.95 (paper). Same-sex marriage and its poor cousin, domestic partnership, are rapidly evolving phenomena, thought by some to be foundation of all future rights for sexual minorities, and excoriated by others as cowardly submission to banal conventionality. Martin Dupuis, an assistant professor of political science at Western Illinois University, has been inspired by this acrimonious debate to consider varied legal landscape related to same-sex marriage. His survey focuses mostly on United States, offering some highlights of history of gay rights movement, moving on to describe varied judicial responses to same-sex marriage over years, and focusing in particular on details of recent legislative and judicial actions in Hawaii, Alaska, and Vermont. A comparative chapter, in which Dupuis offers an overview of recent legal developments in other countries, is also included. information he provides is often useful, even as his descriptions of various cases rarely get past high points. For anyone needing a quick source of basic information on major legal developments in this field, book makes key cases readily accessible. Unfortunately, potential value of this slim volume to scholars in social sciences is undermined by a number of serious problems. First among these is a plodding style, with awkward and sometimes illogical transitions. book suffers, too, from such numerous editorial errors that one hesitates to record any information for research purposes. Names of authors are spelled every which way, even on same page; dates of important events fluctuate; and tables include some, but not all, of results they purport to summarize. Some works cited make it into bibliography, whereas others mysteriously vanish and must be dug out of footnotes. Typographical errors, incorrect punctuation, and other such annoyances abound. It is difficult to be confident about material in a volume when its production has been so cavalier. More important than these problems, however, are logical lapses that leave reader confused at best. In a chapter that reports on measures in various other countries to legitimize same-sex relationships, for example, Dupuis discusses Denmark's landmark 1989 domestic partnership registration act, detailing rights it extends to gay and lesbian couples and rights it withholds. Most notably, Danish measure does not extend any rights to adoption or permit joint custody of children either partner brings to family. Even more startling, considering progressive language used to describe legislation in Denmark, heterosexual couples and single women have access to artificial insemination, but registered lesbians do not. Nor can same-sex couples qualify for church weddings. In Dupuis' words, the domestic partnership registration act limits same-sex couples' ability to form a family (p. 123). Later, he is even blunter, saying, The law institutionalized homosexual relationships as second-class by omitting rights to adoption and church weddings (p. …
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