America is at a turning point: energetic debate on gay issues is now becoming a part of America's public life. Gays may no longer be invisible, but the nation's long silence on gay subjects has left a void in serious thinking about the place of gay men and lesbians in American society.

A More Perfect Union is the first book to offer a concise moral case for gay people's equal citizenship. Appealing to widely held American beliefs, Mohr grounds his argument for gay justice firmly in our most valued traditions of equality and freedom. Mohr explores gay rights from the most private to the most public: Should sex be protected by the right to privacy? What does marriage mean in today's society - and is there a case for legalizing marriage between same-sex couples?

What does equal protection under the law mean for gay people? What are we to make of the controversy over gays in the military

1. Through lively examples and historical cases, Mohr shows how society's current treatment of gays undercuts the rights that other Americans take for granted. If a gay man wants to prosecute queer bashers for attacking him, but knows he will lose his job or custody of his child by coming out publicly; can he truly be said to enjoy the basic right to legal protection? Using similar examples, Mohr makes an eloquent case for gay and lesbian civil rights legislation.

A More Perfect Union also offers clear guidelines on issues such as custody cases where one parent is gay or lesbian and on what the government should and shouldn't be doing about AIDS. A final chapter lays out a ten-point plan for achieving equal rights for gays that urges family, friends, other minorities, and straight men and women to join the fight to secure America's promise of liberty and justice for all. Provocative and timely, A More Perfect Union offers a hopeful vision of a more just America.