Civil Wars: A Battle for Gay Marriage

The New York Times

In 2000, the Vermont legislature passed and Gov. Howard Dean signed the most advanced legislation in American history on same-sex relationships, creating ''civil unions'' which grant many but not all of the legal rights of marriage. The process was wrenching for everyone involved. Fortunately, an able journalist was on the scene, recording his impressions and shaping the debate with eloquent editorials for The Rutland Herald (which earned him the Pulitzer Prize). Now David Moats has written a moving book about the experience. Civil Wars comes at the right moment. With its modesty and quiet moral suasion, it may calm the polarizing national debate to come. — Ted Widmer

The Washington Post

Civil Wars, by David Moats, the editorial page editor of the Rutland Herald, recounts the "political, social, and cultural war" that took place in Vermont during 2000. Moats won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorials on the issue, and Civil Wars tells a compelling, emotionally moving story. Moats viewed the Vermont conflict as "the latest tumultuous chapter in a decades-long struggle for civil rights in America," and he compares it to "Birmingham and Selma as landmarks of our growth toward a more complete democracy." Just as in Alabama four decades ago, Moats stresses, hateful behavior by civil rights opponents proved decisive in "touching the conscience" of Vermonters who did not start out as gay rights supporters. — David J. Garrow

Publishers Weekly

In this gripping piece of journalistic history, Moats chronicles the battle over gay marriage in Vermont, which culminated in 2000 with the first state law allowing gay civil unions. Moats, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorials in the Rutland Chronicle supporting the law, brings a balanced perspective and an urgency to the judicial and legislative drama, which registers on a personal scale. His goal is to answer the following question, which he poses in the prologue: "How did such a thing happen in Vermont?" The result is a local history that remains an important contribution to the history of civil rights in the United States. Vermont itself is the hero of this book, and Moats provides a deft and believable account of how this small state-the first in the union to abolish slavery-became fertile ground for a grassroots, antihomophobic political movement. In perhaps the most moving section, Moats lets the citizens of Vermont speak for themselves. On January 25, 2000, the state legislature heard public testimony from their constituents, and Moats simply and elegantly presents some of the comments. One woman, who timidly announces that she is in a "committed, loving relationship" with another woman, relates an anecdote about her son: "Not long ago, my youngest, who's now eleven, would ask me when we, his parents, would be getting married.... He has now been exposed to the fear and hatred of the world around him and no longer asks this question. I want my children to have the respect they deserve, to have parents that are married and can fully provide for them." Despite a slight anti-urban bias (San Francisco and New York, in contrast to Vermont, stage "flamboyant, sometimes violent, coming[s] out"), Moats's account emerges as essential reading for Americans on both sides of the partisan aisle, especially since Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean figures so prominently in the story. (Feb. 2) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Baltimore Sun

"A thoroughly engaging narrative that is poignant and provocative."

Booklist

"Moasts opens in an epic manner... and reports clearly and fairly from a thoroughly secular perspective."

Kentucky Courier-Journal

"A heartening book, and tonic for these politically polarized times."

Nashville Scene

"A page-turner that may have readers so engrossed in its storytelling, they forget the controversial nature of its subject matter."

Publishers Weekly

"Insightful cultural history enlivened by well-rendered characters, sweeping events, and a clearly argued pro-gay marriage agenda."

The Desert News

"A fascinating book."

Yankee

"Sparely elegant. It is valuable reading for anyone who wants to understand one of the central issues of our time."

Library Journal

When Lois Farnham and Holly Puterbaugh applied for a marriage license in the small town of Milton, VT, in 1997, little did they expect their symbolic act to become the opening salvo in a national debate now raging over the issue of same-sex marriage. The subsequent lawsuit and the half-measured ruling by the Vermont State Supreme Court culminated in that state's Civil Union legislation enacted in 2000. An editorial writer for Vermont's Rutland Herald, who wrote a series of Pulitzer Prize-winning opinions on the issue, Moats here describes true democracy in action as he recounts the events leading up to the historic legislation. Paralleling the personal accounts of the people involved within his state with highlights of the national gay rights movement, he puts a human face on this divisive issue. He chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the politicians, attorneys, religious leaders, and ordinary citizens involved on both sides of the issue. An unapologetic ally of the right to marry, Moats has nevertheless written a clear and fair-minded account of what may be the most important domestic social issue facing 21st-century America. Recommended for most collections.-Jeff Ingram, Newport P.L., OR Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A superb account of one deeply divisive battle in the decades-long civil-rights struggle, recounted by the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorialist who covered it on the front lines. San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, murdered in office in 1978, once "urged gays and lesbians across America to stand up openly, with dignity and pride," writes Moats, editorial-page editor of the Rutland (Vt.) Herald. "They would provoke bigotry, of course, but in doing so they would expose bigotry to the light, touching the conscience of their neighbors in a surprising and gratifying way." So it was when Vermonters responded to a State Supreme Court ruling that state laws excluding gay and lesbian citizens from marriage were unconstitutional: some Vermonters welcomed the decision, others viewed it as an abomination. "The issue of gay marriage was about more than marriage," Moats observes. "It was about how far a secular democracy would expand its arena of freedom." Opponents of gay marriage on religious grounds insisted that marriage was in fact the only issue, protesting that while they had nothing personal against gays, the Bible said otherwise; such types, including protestors from outside the state, soon became familiar figures at rallies throughout the state, besieging legislators with demands to craft laws that would withstand judicial tinkering. Yet, in time, those opponents found that would-be allies were more tolerant than they; one crusty, flinty Republican, former governor and US Senator Robert Stafford, held a press conference to announce, "I believe that love is one of the great forces in our society and in the state of Vermont. . . . And even if a same-sex couple unites with true love, what isthe harm in that. What is the harm?" Eventually, Moats writes, Vermont legislators offered a watered-down compromise authorizing civil union, but not marriage as such, and thus far that compromise has held. But perhaps not for much longer, Moats closes by observing: the Court of Appeal in nearby Ontario ruled in 2003 against restrictions on same-sex marriage, which may inspire a renewal of the struggle in Vermont and elsewhere in the US. Superior reporting, fine writing: required reading for civil-rights activists. Agent: Fredrica S. Friedman/Fredrica Friedman Agency