Full Description
The legal regulation of family forms is a global phenomenon and changes in the 'traditional' family have provoked a variety of legal responses. Same-sex marriage, civil partnerships and other legal avenues to recognize intimate relationships between adults have become a feature of many jurisdictions and a subject for debate in most. Parenting has also become contentious, whether the issue is custody, adoption, or legal recognition of parental status of a non-biological parent. How the law should regulate or protect the sexuality and gender identity of youth is a matter of great concern throughout many countries. The sexuality of the elderly members of societies is beginning to be considered. The papers reprinted in this volume contain discussions, analysis and theoretical challenges to legal regulations and definitions of family, to the primacy of marriage as a legal relationship, to the determination of 'sex' in opposite-sex requirements for marriage and to the treatment of sexual minority elders. The volume also covers specific topics regarding children, including doctrinal and theoretical frameworks relating to the adoption of children, the primacy of genetic ties in parenting, the legal and medical status of intersex children and issues of 'queer youth' in society and in court.
Contents
Contents: Introduction; Part I Adult Relationships: Chatting with the lady in the grocery store about Hernandez v Robles, the New York same-sex marriage case, John B. Mitchell; Marriage or liberation? Reflections on two strategies in the struggle for lesbian and gay rights and relationship recognition, Edward Stein; From functional family to spinster sisters: Australia's distinctive path to relationship recognition, Reg Graycar and Jenni Millbank; Law that values all families: beyond (straight and gay) marriage, Nancy D. Polikoff; The legal recognition of same-sex relationships within the European Union, Katharina Boele-Woelki; The 'inevitability' of same-sex marriage in South Africa's post-apartheid state, Pierre De Vos; Is Barbados ready for same-sex marriage? Analysis of legal and social constructs, Céline Abramschmitt; A mere switch or a fundamental change? Theorizing transgender marriage, Ruthann Robson. Part II Parenting: (When) are rights wrong? Rights discourses and indeterminacy in gay and lesbian parents' custody cases, Kimberley D. Richman; From Fretté to E.B.: the European Court of Human Rights on gay and lesbian adoption, Kathleen A. Doty; One, two or three parents? Lesbian co-mothers and a known donor with 'family life' under Dutch law, Machteld Vonk; Gendering legal parenthood: bio-genetic ties, intentionality and responsibility, Susan B. Boyd. Part III Youth and the Elderly: The legally queer child, Bruce MacDougall; Who will make room for the intersexed?, Kate Haas; When your attorney is your enemy: preliminary thoughts on ensuring effective representation for queer youth, Sarah Valentine; From jailbird to jailbait: age of consent laws and the construction of teenage sexualities, Kate Sutherland; Nursing wounds: why LGBT elders need protection from discrimination and abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Jaime E. Hovey; Name index.
