Gay Rights vs. Religious Liberty?

Should religious people who conscientiously object to facilitating same-sex weddings, and who therefore decline to provide cakes, photography, or other services, be exempted from antidiscrimination laws? This issue has taken on an importance far beyond the tiny number who have made such claims. Gay rights advocates fear that exempting even a few religious dissenters would unleash a devastating wave of discrimination. Conservative Christians fear that the law will treat them like racists and drive them to the margins of American society.

Both sides are mistaken. The answer lies, not in abstract principles, but in legislative compromise. This book clearly and empathetically engages with both sides of the debate. Koppelman explains the basis of antidiscrimination law, including the complex idea of dignitary harm. He shows why even those who do not regard religion as important or valid nonetheless have good reasons to support religious liberty, and why even those who regard religion as a value of overriding importance should nonetheless reject the extravagant power over nonbelievers that the Supreme Court has recently embraced.

Koppelman also proposes a specific solution to the problem: that religious exemptions be granted only to the few businesses that are willing to announce their compunctions and bear the costs of doing so. His approach makes room for America's enormous variety of deeply held beliefs and ways of life. It can help reduce the toxic polarization of American politics.


Andrew Koppelman is an essential voice for common sense and compromise in the bitter--and at this point, mostly unnecessary--fight between religious conservatives and the LGBT community. Both sides are here to stay, and they have to live with each other. Koppelman points the way and offers one possible solution. -- Douglas Laycock, Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia Law School and author of Religious Liberty, Volumes I-V

Like everything Andrew Koppelman writes, Gay Rights vs. Religious Liberty? instructs, provokes, and scintillates. Koppelman packs his book with ideas and arguments that are like no one else's. He also happens to be right: a train wreck between gay rights and religious liberty is avoidable--if we act wisely and soon. -- Jonathan Rauch, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and author of Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America