Same-sex marriage is, without doubt, the hot-button topic of American political discourse over the past few years. It has been arguably more divisive than the struggle for equality of African Americans in the 1960s and '70s, touching, as it does, deep-seated religious prejudices, and it moved into the forefront of public debate in December 1999, when the Supreme Court of Vermont handed down its decision in what has become known simply as "the Baker case" (formally Stan Baker, et al. v. State of Vermont, et al.).

David Moats is the editorial page editor of the Rutland Herald in Vermont, and he won the paper's first Pulitzer Prize for a series of editorials supporting same-sex unions in 2000. Civil Wars is the human face of the struggle in Vermont, the story of the personal and political battle to expand the scope of individual liberty in the state that has long prided itself on its history of support for the freedom and dignity of each individual citizen.

Moats does put a human face on this struggle, covering the personal histories of the plaintiffs in the case -- Holly Puterbaugh and Lois Farnham, Stan Baker and Peter Harrigan, and Nina Beck and Stacy Jolles -- and their legal team, Beth Robinson and Susan Murray, ably supported by Boston lawyer Mary Bonauto, who later successfully argued the case that brought same-sex marriage to Massachusetts in 2003. We also get long looks at the key players in the legislature, particularly Bill Lippert, the only openly gay member of the Vermont House, who made a crucial and deeply personal speech at a critical moment and drew criticism from both sides by supporting a compromise -- civil unions -- that was not full equality but that stood a chance of passage.

There are villains, too. Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, censured by his own church for deserting his wife, comes across as the hypocritical thug that he is, while Rep. Nancy Sheltra, although treated fairly by Moats, is considerably damned by her own words and actions, including a thinly veiled and vicious attack on Lippert on the floor of the House.

The court's ruling, while stating quite frankly that the marriage laws in the state were unconstitutional, passed the task of crafting a remedy to the legislature, a shrewd political move; by necessity, the entire polity of the state was involved in working out the manner of the remedy, defusing criticism of the court (for the most part, at least: one notion that Moats does not address directly but is thrown into sharp relief by his story is that same-sex marriage serves a double purpose for the radical right; it not only makes a good rallying cry for the forces of social regression, but provides a ready excuse for attacks on the courts, so long as they insist on a rational basis for laws).

Moats is quite open about his own bias in this area -- his editorials, after all, did come out strongly in favor of the court's ruling and the necessity for establishing equality for same-sex couples -- but it does not seem to color his coverage. It is, indeed, quite illuminating to read his account of the initial hearings on the proposed legislation; opponents of any recognition for same-sex relationships, by their own words, were only able to offer hatred and fear based on religious bias, while supporters talked about their families and friends, the discrimination they had suffered, their children, and the love and caring that were an integral part of their relationships. The human issues are rather more complex than the legal issues: if the constitution says that all must have equal access to the benefits of the law and that there must be a rational basis for denying any group that access, that seems fairly clearcut. It is these murky human concerns that Moats dissects skillfully, not always showing us at our best; the idea that discrimination is acceptable so long as it is traditional is one that still has a strong hold on the American people, from all appearances, and the willingness to ignore the idea of separation of church and state -- or even to claim that it never existed and has no legitimacy, which has become a theme of religious conservatives, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church -- an idea that is basic to our concept of personal liberty, is no less than appalling.

Moats has found the drama in what might seem the dull processes of the legislature and crafted from it a gripping chapter in the story of America's ongoing search for equality for all. It is a deeply moving group portrait of Americans making democracy work, reading like a political thriller, with strongly drawn examples of courage, meanness, arrogance and humility. It was almost impossible to put this book down.

- Rambles
written by Robert M. Tilendis
published 2 July 2005