Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Title
Family Law in the World Community, 2d ed.
Publication Date
2009
Abstract
Family law continues to evolve rapidly. Past orthodoxies become unsustainable, while new norms and values are ushered in.
John Murphy, The Recognition of Same-Sex Families in
Britain: The Role of Private International Law,
16 Int’l J. L. Pol. & Fam. 181, 185 (2002)
Perhaps nowhere in family law is this evolution more dramatic than in the burgeoning recognition of rights of same-sex couples. Within the past twenty years courts, legislatures, and international bodies have addressed the extent to which rights and obligations formerly reserved to heterosexual married spouses should be conferred on other partners.
Most western democracies now recognize same-sex unions, assuring the partners in such unions a range of rights and benefits, similar to but distinct from the rights and benefits enjoyed by married couples. Part A of this Chapter describes the legal mechanisms which recognize and protect same-sex unions, some of which are also open to heterosexual couples. Part B focuses on the still-small minority of states that have opened civil marriage to same-sex couples. Part C considers the growing reliance on human rights instruments to expand the rights of same-sex couples, and the promulgation of new instruments, including the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
Recommended Citation
Barbara Stark,
Domestic Partnerships and Same-Sex Marriage Family Law in the World Community, 2d ed. 211-246
(2009)
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/faculty_scholarship/421
Comments
This chapter is Chapter 4 from Family Law in the World Community, 2d ed.