The fascinating and very moving story of the lovers, lawyers, judges and activists behind the groundbreaking Supreme Court case that led to one of the most important, national civil rights victories in decades—the legalization of same-sex marriage. In June 2015, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law in all fifty states in a decision as groundbreaking as Roe v Wade and Brown v Board of Education. Through insider accounts and access to key players, this definitive account reveals the dramatic and previously unreported events behind Obergefell v Hodges and the lives at its center. This is a story of law and love—and a promise made to a dying man who wanted to know how he would be remembered. Twenty years ago, Jim Obergefell and John Arthur fell in love in Cincinnati, Ohio, a place where gays were routinely picked up by police and fired from their jobs. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had to provide married gay couples all the benefits offered to straight couples. Jim and John—who was dying from ALS—flew to Maryland, where same-sex marriage was legal. But back home, Ohio refused to recognize their union, or even list Jim’s name on John’s death certificate. Then they met Al Gerhardstein, a courageous attorney who had spent nearly three decades advocating for civil rights and who now saw an opening for the cause that few others had before him. This forceful and deeply affecting narrative—Part Erin Brockovich, part Milk, part Still Alice—chronicles how this grieving man and his lawyer, against overwhelming odds, introduced the most important gay rights case in U.S. history. It is an urgent and unforgettable account that will inspire readers for many years to come.

Former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres shares her secrets for a happy, fulfilling life after divorce. After her divorce from superstar singer Marc Anthony, Dayanara Torres learned firsthand how to handle the challenges of starting over and creating a healthy environment for her two sons and herself. The most important lesson she learned is that the commitment a woman makes to herself is just as important as the commitment she makes to her spouse on their wedding day. Dayanara vowed to honor and respect herself, and in Married to Me she helps other women do the same. Dayanara walks women through the critical stages of redefining life after a marriage ends: accepting, rebuilding, and rediscovering happiness and the self. With compassion and encouragement, she offers honest advice, personal mantras, and insightful tips on family, lifestyle, beauty, and health—so that women can move beyond the pain, set a new family dynamic, discover new passions, and build new relationships. Like Dayanara, readers will discover a life after divorce that is beyond their wildest dreams.

He’s bound to the past. She believes in the future Lieutenant Walker Norton might be cynical, but he isn’t a broken man—yet. Raised to understand the looming catastrophe of climate change, promised to a woman he doesn’t love, he long ago decided to live a life of service to his country, family and friends. It’s enough—until he meets Avery Lightfoot and realizes he wants so much more. Love means everything to Avery. Witness to her parents’ wonderful marriage, she’s long waited to meet her soulmate, act in romantic movies and start a family. Now it’s all in reach. But Walker can’t marry her until he’s released from his vow—and when Elizabeth Blaine arrives at Base Camp, it’s clear she’s ready to claim Walker for herself. Elizabeth doesn’t love him and doesn’t want him—so why is she determined to ruin his life? Walker has forty days to find an answer before he’ll have to choose between honoring the past or seizing the future he craves.

Compares today’s same-sex marriage movement to the experiences of black people in the mid-nineteenth century. The staggering string of victories by the gay rights movement’s campaign for marriage equality raises questions not only about how gay people have been able to successfully deploy marriage to elevate their social and legal reputation, but also what kind of freedom and equality the ability to marry can mobilize. Wedlocked turns to history to compare today’s same-sex marriage movement to the experiences of newly emancipated black people in the mid-nineteenth century, when they were able to legally marry for the first time. Maintaining that the transition to greater freedom was both wondrous and perilous for newly emancipated people, Katherine Franke relates stories of former slaves’ involvements with marriage and draws lessons that serve as cautionary tales for today’s marriage rights movements. While “be careful what you wish for” is a prominent theme, they also teach us how the rights-bearing subject is inevitably shaped by the very rights they bear, often in ways that reinforce racialized gender norms and stereotypes. Franke further illuminates how the racialization of same-sex marriage has redounded to the benefit of the gay rights movement while contributing to the ongoing subordination of people of color and the diminishing reproductive rights of women. Like same-sex couples today, freed African-American men and women experienced a shift in status from outlaws to in-laws, from living outside the law to finding their private lives organized by law and state licensure. Their experiences teach us the potential and the perils of being subject to legal regulation: rights—and specifically the right to marriage—can both burden and set you free.

In this updated, paperback edition of Winning Marriage, Marc Solomon, a veteran leader in the movement for marriage equality, gives the reader a seat at the strategy-setting and decision-making table in the campaign to win and protect the freedom to marry. With depth and grace he reveals the inner workings of the advocacy movement that has championed and protected advances won in legislative, court, and electoral battles over the years since the landmark Massachusetts ruling guaranteeing marriage for same-sex couples for the first time. The paperback edition includes a new afterword on the historic 2015 Supreme Court ruling on marriage that includes practical lessons from the marriage campaign that are applicable to other social movements. From the gritty clashes in the state legislatures of Massachusetts and New York to the devastating loss at the ballot box in California in 2008 and subsequent ballot wins in 2012 to the joys of securing President Obama's support and achieving ultimate victory in the Supreme Court, Marc Solomon has been at the center of one of the great civil and human rights movements of our time. Winning Marriage recounts the struggle with some of the world's most powerful forces-the Catholic hierarchy, the religious right, and cynical ultraconservative political operatives-and the movement's eventual triumph.

fter surviving divorce, Wendy Swallow had given up on love for good. A series of bad dates simply confirmed it-she did not need a man. She could be happy on her own. Then, when she wasn't looking, Charlie appeared. In a humorous, reflective voice, Swallow shares with us her honest, emotional journey of remarriage. Navigating the rubble of failed marriages-the blame, the embarrassment, the disrupted parenting-Wendy and Charlie aim to create a union unadulterated by the loss and pain of previous mistakes. But reality is often different than intention, and Swallow's memoir is poignant and engaging, as she traces the pitfalls and triumphs of remarriage.