Infanti on “Everyday Law for Gays and Lesbians”

Feminist Law Prof Anthony C. Infanti’s new book, Everyday Law For Gays and Lesbians has been published by Paradigm Publishers.   Here’s  Paradigm’s summary:

Everyday Law for Gays and Lesbians and Those Who Care about Them accessibly explains the myriad ways the law applies to and affects lesbian and gay lives. Written both concretely and clearly, each chapter opens with a vivid story about actual experiences of lesbians and gay men and then uses those experiences as a springboard for discussing the law. Using his personal and expert professional experience, Anthony Infanti makes complicated legal issues approachable, including marriage and its alternatives, bias crimes, the military, education, employment, housing, medical and tax planning, and parenting. Going beyond a mere summary of the law, this book provides both legal and nonlegal strategies for coping with and effecting positive change in the law as it affects the lives of lesbians and gay men. The book also contains an appendix with a list of useful resources for lesbians, gay men, and those who care about them.

Infanti’s is one of the clearest contemporary voices in critical tax scholarship, and  I admire his work in the tax field, so I’m looking forward to  reading this book.

Here are the blurbs from the back cover:

From Pat Cain, the Inez Mabie Distinguished Professor of Law at Santa Clara University:

“Everyday Law for Gays and Lesbians is a combination of powerful narrative and intricate legal analysis. Anthony Infanti writes in a style that is easily accessible for non-lawyers while also providing the details and research notes that lawyers and academics will appreciate.   His message, that legal change alone will not stamp out anti-gay bias, is not new, but his telling of this story is fresh, insightful and full of constructive suggestions for social activists who wish to advance the cause. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone who cares about lesbians and gay men.”

From Robin West, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center:

“Everyday Law for Gays and Lesbians presents an exhaustive survey of legal issues that might impact upon the lives of gay and lesbian citizens from cradle to grave, including the law surrounding adoption, parenting, and custody problems, discrimination on the job and at school, marriage rights and rites, service in the military, sufferance of verbal and physical abuse, and much else.     Through effective use of the narrative voice, Infanti makes the law that governs these everyday life events both accessible and alive, as he shows law’s impact on his own life and that of others.   The author details ways in which law can often be brutal, sometimes an impediment to meaningful social change, and at least occasionally a spur to progress.   He also clearly demarcates the limits of law as a tool for reform, challenging the reader to consider ways in which his or her own narrative (and organizing skills) might better prompt social change outside of legal pathways, where law proves itself to be hostile or cumbersome.   Readers will find this book to be a helpful resource, highly informative, sometimes provocative, and always a pleasure to read.”

From Kim Fountain, Director of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs:

 “Anthony Infanti should be commended for producing a desperately needed call to action to address and eradicate anti-gay bias.   Everyday Law for Gays and Lesbians is a compelling and sophisticated look at the ways that homophobia and heterosexism forcefully impact the lives of lesbians and gay men, resulting in a host of traumas ranging from verbal assaults to homicides. His work provides a thorough and yet comprehensible background on legal issues that may at times simultaneously revictimize and support survivors of anti-gay bias. This book will certainly be a useful tool to activists seeking to end anti-gay bias.”

I’ve met Tony Infanti.   I swear he is a mere mortal.   Ok – maybe I’m a bit jealous of his super powers.

Congratulations, Tony!

-Bridget Crawford