A panel discussion with Éric Fassin and Mary Anne Case

A proposed law in France to allow gay couples to marry and adopt children has prompted mass demonstrations for and against "le mariage pour tous" and vigorous discussions in the French news media and in Parliament. In the U.S., 9 states and Washington DC have by now legalized same-sex marriage, and this term, the Supreme Court is considering two cases that may prove momentous. On the anniversary of the passage of the first same-sex marriage law (the Netherlands, April 1, 2001), leading experts compare French and American legal approaches and social debates around gay marriage.

Éric Fassin is a sociologist at Paris 8 University. His work focuses on sexual and racial politics from a comparative perspective. His publications include Le sexe politique (2009) and L’inversion de la question homosexuelle (2008), as well as Démocratie précaire (2012). He contributes to public debates on key social issues including gay rights and immigration politics.

Mary Anne Case is Arnold I. Shure Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School, and Samuel Rubin Visiting Professor, Columbia Law School. Her work to date has focused on a feminist, constitutional, comparative and historical perspective on the regulation of sex, gender, sexuality and the family.  She has published a number of law review articles on questions of same-sex marriage, including "What Feminists Have to Lose in Same-Sex Marriage Litigation," 57 UCLA Law Review 1199 (2010).