We Do! American Leaders Who Believe in Marriage Equality

In this slight book, activist and journalist Baumgardner (Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics) and former Vermont Governor Kunin (The New Feminist Agenda) attempt to contextualize the struggle for marriage equality by assembling a collection of famous speeches, interviews, and quotes. The book succeeds mainly as nostalgia mixed with a portrait of political waffling, though there are occasional moments of inspiration. Vermont State Representative Bill Lippert’s testimony before the Vermont House is as moving today as it was in 2000, when it helped pave the way for the nation’s first civil unions. Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s blunt words at a 2012 press conference (“It’s ridiculous and offensive that we’re still having this debate”) remain ovation worthy. But the inclusion of Andrew Sullivan’s oft-reprinted “Here Comes the Groom” feels like filler, and the “evolution” of attitudes expressed by John Kerry, Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and others feel just as poll-driven today as when they were first uttered. With the Defense of Marriage Act recently overturned by the Supreme Court, a book tracing the movement towards marriage equality would undoubtedly be valuable, but unfortunately, this collection provides little in the way of new insight. (Nov.)