From the closet to the courtroom : five LGBT rights lawsuits that have changed our nation
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The author describes five lawsuits that have helped change the way lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) people are treated in the United States. The cases are Braschi v. Stahl Associates, in which an appellate court recognize that two men can constitute a family; Nabozny v. Podlesny (1996), in which a Wisconsin jury recognized that a bullied gay teenager had had his constitutional rights violated by school officials who looked the other way; Rome v. Evans, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that it is unconstitutional to deny LGBT people the opportunity to seek antidiscrimination protection under the law; Baehr v. Lewin (1993), in which the Hawaii Supreme Court questioned the constitutionality of denying same-sex couples the right to marry; and Lawrence v. Texas (2003), in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that the government cannot criminalize private and consensual gay sex. For each case, he offers a description of the facts involved, a discussion of the legal issues involved and how they were dealt with in the litigation, and an analysis of the legal and social impact of the case.