Beyond Lesbian and Gay “Families We Choose”

Abstract

Abstract Modern family law in this century has been characterized by a shift in emphasis from status to choice, from the status-based roles imposed by communal tradition to the consensual duties created by contract. This shift reflects a progressive adoption in the family law context of the consequences of a “liberal” conception of self. The liberal self is an autonomous actor whose liberty is constrained only to the extent the actor agrees (contract) or harms others (tort and crimes). Hence, the liberal self is free to enter into, and exit from, family arrangements largely at will, uninhibited by social custom or old-fashioned status rules. Lesbians and gay men have been among the avant-garde of this shift, for we do not usually follow the traditional husbandwife-kids model of family formation. Instead, we have turned to “families we choose”circles of consent-based intimacy among friends, partners, former lovers, children, and others.