Winning Marriage: The Inside Story of How Same-Sex Couples Took on the Politicians and Pundits-and Won

by Marc Solomon, Deval Patrick (Foreword by)

Overview

In this updated, paperback edition of Winning Marriage, Marc Solomon, a veteran leader in the movement for marriage equality, gives the reader a seat at the strategy-setting and decision-making table in the campaign to win and protect the freedom to marry. With depth and grace he reveals the inner workings of the advocacy movement that has championed and protected advances won in legislative, court, and electoral battles over the years since the landmark Massachusetts ruling guaranteeing marriage for same-sex couples for the first time. The paperback edition includes a new afterword on the historic 2015 Supreme Court ruling on marriage that includes practical lessons from the marriage campaign that are applicable to other social movements. From the gritty clashes in the state legislatures of Massachusetts and New York to the devastating loss at the ballot box in California in 2008 and subsequent ballot wins in 2012 to the joys of securing President Obama’s support and achieving ultimate victory in the Supreme Court, Marc Solomon has been at the center of one of the great civil and human rights movements of our time. Winning Marriage recounts the struggle with some of the world’s most powerful forces—the Catholic hierarchy, the religious right, and cynical ultraconservative political operatives—and the movement’s eventual triumph.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611689198
Publisher:	University Press of New England
Publication date:	09/08/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	412
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

MARC SOLOMON has served as the national campaign director for Freedom to Marry since 2010 where he directed programs to win marriage nationwide. In 15 years of work on marriage equality, he led the campaign to protect marriage in Massachusetts and played leading roles in multiple other state campaigns. He has innovated programs to make advances with both the Democratic and Republican Parties, and has led efforts to enlist elected officials and business leaders to the cause. He is a regular media spokesperson—on television and radio and in print.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Governor Deval Patrick • Author’s Note • Prologue • State Victories and Other Key Milestones, 2003–2013 • MASSACHUSETTS • The Decision Heard ’round the World • Tying the Knot • Do-or-Die Elections • Organizing for the Fight • Defying Gravity •

What People are Saying About This

Bob Woodward

“Winning Marriage is a deeply reported and deeply felt insider’s account of the marriage equality movement. Astute, committed, and fair-minded, Solomon’s story chronicles the political sea change on marriage equality. Solomon is an authoritative voice, observer, and participant. This is an important history about how America is changing.”

Dee Dee Myers

“In Winning Marriage, Marc Solomon tells the riveting story of the long battle for marriage equality, with its strategic discipline and internal conflicts, principled leaders and committed adversaries, unexpected setbacks and lucky breaks. Even though I knew where each chapter would end, I was drawn into Marc’s detailed, carefully researched and deeply personal account — and it left me wiping my eyes and pumping my fist. I can’t wait for the ultimate epilogue.”

Chris Hughes

“It’s hard to imagine a more thorough, lively account of the fight for marriage equality coming from someone who labored on the front lines for over a decade. Marc traces in careful detail the emergence of the first major social movement of this century in a way that will inspire activists on the side of justice and equality for decades to come.”

Chris Anderson

“As one of the key players in the quest for marriage equality, Marc has an amazing story to tell. This movement was years in the making, yet the speed and manner in which opinion on the topic has changed is breathtaking. Marc’s ringside narrative of this achievement is inspiring and historic.”

Barney Frank

“Marc Solomon's book is one of the most valuable I've read about the fight for legal equality for LGBT people. It is by far the best, and most accurate, of the accounts to legalize same-sex marriage. His narration demonstrates the crucial role that the intelligent, disciplined approach to the political process played in the successes we have won.”

Editorial Reviews

Winning Marriage may well stand as the definitive political history of marriage equality. It’s certainly the book that leaders of the movement deserve, and that latecomers to the movement need to read. After each new pro-equality court ruling, Americans seem to look around in wonder and ask, How did we get here? With this riveting, passionate book, Solomon has provided the answer.” —Slate


“A brisk, readable, and often exhilarating first-person account of key battles that set the stage for today's astonishing momentum, it makes clear that parentage rights for this success belong to many."—Huffington Post


“Solomon’s narrative serves as a tribute to those who made gay marriage happen and as a manual for how to craft a successful political movement in the future.”—Publishers Weekly


“The book is more of a political science text than a history, giving a behind-the-scenes look at how influence, money, and connections drive the political system at the state level. The author offers the blow-by-blow story of Senate arguments and backroom negotiations. As one might expect from a work on such a controversial subject, the narrative covers not only the intellectual aspects of the political struggle but also offers emotional stories of the acceptance and rejection that led politicians to vote the way they did. The prose style is lean, fast, and to the point, interspersed with engaging psychological analysis.”—Library Journal


“Solomon’s campaign memoir delivers the first real picture of how the LGBT movement won marriage equality: through person-to-person moral suasion, on the one hand, and hardball politics, on the other."—Daily Beast


“The best book to date on the campaign.”—The Colorado Independent


"While we await a national victory, Winning Marriage makes for good reading in the trenches. Solomon helps us measure the distance we have come and look forward to a time when we can put this battle behind us. The big win—equality for all—can’t come soon enough.”
—Ms. Magazine

From the Publisher