What can straight people do to support gay rights? How much work or sacrifice must allies take on to do their share? Ian Ayres and Jennifer Brown—law professors, activists, husband and wife—propose practical strategies for helping straight men and women advocate for and with the gay community.
Straightforward advances a thesis that is at once simple and groundbreaking: to make real progress at the central flashpoints of controversy—marriage rights, employment discrimination, gays in the military, exclusion from the Boy Scouts, and religious controversies over homosexuality—straight as well as gay people need to speak up and act for equality. Ayres and Brown take aim at both the hearts and minds of the general public, focusing on strategies that can change the incentives and therefore the behavior of the recalcitrant.
The book is peppered with stories about real people and the decisions they have faced at home, in church, at work, in school, and in politics. It is also filled with creative legal and economic strategies for influencing public and corporate decision-making. For example, Ayres and Brown propose the development of a “fair employment mark” to help companies advertise inclusive employment policies. They also show how a simple pledge to vacation in states that legalize gay marriage can create powerful incentives for legislatures to amend their marriage laws.
Engagingly written and sure to spark debate, Straightforward promises to change the way America thinks about—and participates in—the gay rights movement.
Awards and Recognition
- Honorable Mention for the 2006 Myers Outstanding Book Award
"Ayres and Brown approach the subject of advocacy . . . by positing the notion of heterosexual privilege and its concomitant responsibility to make society more inclusive to its gay citizens."—Library Journal
"Accessible and consistently engaging, the book is certain to stimulate both casual and classroom discussion. . . . Straght-forward ultimately delivers in its promise to provide a practical guide to action by offering innovative economic and legal tactics for influencing public and corporate policy."—Tony Peregrin, The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide
"No civil rights movement is ever won solely by those who are the primary targets of discrimination. Gay rights are merely non-gay rights made available to all, and all Americans have a stake in a nation that treats us all fairly. In Straightforward, Jennifer Gerarda Brown and Ian Ayres start the brainstorming on creative ways that non-gay people can raise their majority voices, wield their clout, and do their part to achieve equal rights for all, including their gay loved ones and fellow citizens."—Evan Wolfson, author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry
"Straightforward provides an important and much-needed guidebook for enlisting straight Americans to the cause of gay rights. Just as the civil-rights movement of the 1960s called upon blacks and whites to band together to achieve social gains, Ayres and Brown make the case for a new gay-straight alliance as a force for expanding not just gay rights but broad human rights for all Americans."—Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class.
"Gay people will always constitute a small percentage of the population and therefore our rights will always depend on the support of non-gay people. I wish all that all non-gay people possessed the wisdom that Ian Ayres and Jennifer Brown show here—and now they can. This remarkable book doesn't just explain the benefits of supporting gay rights—it actually tells how to do so. A rare combination of insightful analysis and instructive tactical suggestions, it provides novel, exciting, and very specific ideas about how to change the world. It's like a gay rights recipe book. And it's arrived at just the right moment. Buy it. Read it. Implement its suggestions. Make a difference."—William B. Rubenstein, Chair, Charles R. Williams Project on Sexual Orientation Law, UCLA School of Law
"In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence, equal treatment for gay people is an idea whose time has come. No one has explored that idea as thoroughly as Straightforward. An added bonus is that Brown and Ayres offer strategies for gay-friendly straight people to advance gay equality in the political and social arena. Every American, gay or straight, should read this book!"—William Eskridge, author of Equality Practice
"If you've become bored with the predictable arguments for and against gay rights, straightforward is the book you need to read. Whether you agree or disagree with its ideas, I guarantee you'll be hearing most of them for the first time. Straightforward speaks to everyone—parents, teachers, clergy, employers and soldiers—and offers a solid, economics-based way out of the usual gay-rights impasse."—Diane Mazur, University of Florida
"Brown and Ayres have big hearts and their critical intelligence is second to none. Straightforward brings the full force of both to bear with devastating effect against the deep prejudices that taint heterosexual attitudes toward lesbians and gays. The authors think heterosexuals can do better, and make some excellent concrete suggestions as to how. This is compelling reading for anyone who takes equality seriously."—William Bratton, Georgetown University
"This is one of the most important works on gay rights in recent memory. The book elaborates on a crucial (but often overlooked) insight, namely that if the gay rights movement is to attain its most important goals, it needs the assistance and contributions of heterosexuals. No other book speaks so directly and effectively to heterosexuals who generally support gay rights but may not have given much thought to what practical steps they can take to advance gay rights causes."—Carlos Ball, Dickinson School of Law, Pennsylvania State University, author, The Morality of Gay Rights
"Drawing on the most up-to-date legal and gender theory, this book provides original, very practical advice for heterosexual people who want to advocate for the rights of gays and lesbians. An eminently useful self-help book, it proposes creative—and many times simple—strategies for supporting the extension of full civil and legal rights to people regardless of their sexual identities."—Leila J. Rupp, Professor and Chair of Women's Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
"Taking to heart the adage that no minority group can succeed in its social justice struggles without the help of the majority, Straightforward offers a soup-to-nuts guide to being an ally to gay and lesbian people in these challenging times."—Mary Bonauto, Civil Rights Project Director, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
