Love Wins

April 25, 2016
This gripping portrayal of the pivotal moment in the fight for marriage equality in Ohio includes childhood memories and romance as well as tense moments in court. The tale is told through the life stories of the lead plaintiff, Jim Obergefell; his terminally ill husband, John Arthur; and lawyer Al Gerhardstein. Written in the third person, though Obergefell is listed as author alongside Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Cenziper, the book is so full of dialogue and personal anecdotes that it feels as much like a biography as a legal history. The first thread follows Obergefell and his late husband, Arthur, though their courtship, coping with Arthur’s illness as it progresses, and their quiet Maryland wedding ceremony. The second follows Gerhardstein from his early work supporting Planned Parenthood to his fight against Ohio’s same-sex marriage ban, which leads him to reach out to Obergefell and Arthur, who dread the eventual legal erasure of their marriage on Arthur’s Ohio death certificate in the wake of U.S. v. Windsor. The book proceeds to outline the testimony and arguments, ending with the Obergefell v. Hodges victory in the Supreme Court. As Obergefell and Gerhardstein literally walk out of the courtroom into the sunlight together, readers will feel they’ve been completely guided into seeing the people behind the cases.

May 1, 2016

Author Obergefell and his partner, John Arthur, married in Maryland in July 2013. On October 22, 2013, Arthur died of ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease. The couple's home state of Ohio did not recognize their marriage, and Arthur's death certificate listed him with no surviving spouse. This book begins with the story of Obergefell's fight to amend his husband's death certificate and evolves into an account of gay couples, their children, and their fight for recognition. Cenziper, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the Washington Post, wrote this work with Obergefell. Together, they do a thorough job of exploring the history of discrimination against LGBT Americans that led to the landmark 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. The book also tells of the plaintiffs, the legal teams on both sides, and the circumstances that brought them to the case. While the legal strategies of the case are fully explored, the personal lives of the participants are the narrative's draw. VERDICT A fascinating look at the fight for gay marriage and at the experiences of gay couples and families. Recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, 12/14/15.]--Becky Kennedy, Atlanta-Fulton P.L.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2016

In 2013, a dying John Arthur flew with partner Obergefell to Maryland to be married. But their home state, Ohio, did not recognize their union. Enter civil rights attorney Al Gerhardstein, who led the crusade ending with the landmark Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage. This behind-the-scenes account is told by Obergefell himself with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Cenziper. With a 250,000-copy first printing; first serial rights to the Washington Post and feature film rights to Fox 2000.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2016
The moving personal stories behind the landmark Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which established the right of same-sex couples to marry in all 50 states. While the major 2013 Supreme Court decision of United States v. Windsor had struck down key discriminatory provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act, there remained some shadowy spaces still not defined for the equal protection of gay couples. In this affecting, eloquent account, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Cenziper (Washington Post) and the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, civil rights activist Obergefell, re-create the events and legal precedent that began in Cincinnati shortly after the Windsor decision, involving Obergefell and his longtime partner and husband, John Arthur, who died in 2013. Having defended such unpopular causes as abortion clinics and discrimination against gay employees, crusading Cincinnati lawyer Al Gerhardstein resolved to launch a federal lawsuit against the state of Ohio in order to allow Obergefell to be listed on Arthur's death certificate as "surviving spouse," although their marriage was not recognized by Ohio, where a referendum a decade earlier had banned the recognition of same-sex marriages. While the ban on anti-discrimination laws for gays was declared unconstitutional by the city of Cincinnati, the conservative 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision in 1995, then again in 2014, refusing to recognize gay couples (who had married in another state) on death certificates and the birth certificates of their children. Essentially, the court forced Gerhardstein's hand, and he petitioned the Supreme Court, which, astoundingly, took the case, narrowing the issue down to two questions: "whether the Constitution required all fifty states to issue marriage licenses to people of the same sex and whether states with bans should be required to recognize marriages that were legally performed elsewhere." The authors ably create the suspense of anticipation and winnow the legal issues for lay readers. Uplifting, well-written story of personal courage and political empowerment.

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Starred review from May 15, 2016
Told with a novel's narrative drive, this recounting of the landmark Supreme Court case, Obergefell v. Hodges, which guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marriage, is taut, tense, and highly readable. Unable to marry in their native Ohio, Jim Obergefell and his longtime partner, John Arthur, terminally ill with ALS, were wed in Maryland. But Ohio law wouldn't recognize their union, setting in motion a series of cases which wound their way through the Ohio courts, then joined with other cases to appear before the conservative Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and, finally, the Supreme Court. Cenziper, a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist, along with Obergefell, digs deeply into the personal stories of not just the many plaintiffs but also family members, lawyers, and judges, creating a remarkably rich portrait of America on the cusp of recognizing same-sex marriage. Every civil rights case starts with a story, the authors write, and the central tale here is about Al Gerhardstein, the heroic Cincinnati civil-rights lawyer who approached Obergefell and Arthur to initiate the case, then shepherded it all the way to Washington. This book would make a great movie, and in the meantime, it is an excellent choice for book groups looking for exciting nonfiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)