Courting Change: Queer Parents, Judges, and the Transformation of American Family Law

Acknowledgments

ix Acknowledgments I began this project at the University of California–Irvine’s Department of Criminology, Law and Society. I benefited enormously from the excellent faculty and intellectual community of graduate students there, and particularly from Valerie Jenness, Kitty Calavita, and John Dombrink, as well as Ryken Grattet of UC-Davis. I am especially thankful to Kitty Calavita, whose intelligence and keen analytical eye enriched this project from the beginning, and to Valerie Jenness, my mentor and friend, whose contributions not only to this project but to my development as a scholar are too numerous to count. Even after graduate school, Val has continued to be a trusted source of advice and support. Many other scholars contributed valuable feedback, insight, and ideas at various stages of the development of this book, or in particular chapters. These include Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller, Richard Leo, Bill Maurer, Peter Nardi, Laura Beth Nielsen, Dan Pinello, Joe Rollins, Cliff Rosky, Austin Sarat, Julie Shapiro, Jonathan Simon, Susan Sterett, George Thomas, Bill Thompson, Martha Umphrey, Valerie Zukin, and participants in the 2000 and 2001 LSA Graduate Student Workshops in Miami and Budapest, as well as the 2003 LSA Summer Institute at UC Berkeley. I am grateful to the editors and anonymous reviewers at Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, and Law & Sexuality, who provided valuable feedback on articles that served as precursors to some of the chapters in this book. I also thank Elizabeth Knoll, Josh Gamson, and anonymous reviewers at NYU Press for their valuable feedback on my book proposal and early conceptions of the book. Thanks finally to Bill Benemann at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley for coordinating access to case materials. Crucial financial support was provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Grant #SES-0004287), as well as from the American Sociological Association, the University of California, and the Uni- x | Acknowledgments versity of San Francisco. I am deeply indebted to Dean Jennifer Turpin and the University of San Francisco for granting the sabbatical leave that allowed me to complete the book. I am also grateful for the writing retreats and welcoming work environment provided by the University of San Francisco, and especially my colleagues in the Department of Sociology —I am thankful every day to be surrounded by such amazing people, and for the opportunity to work with colleagues who are truly friends. Thanks in particular to Stephanie Sears and Josh Gamson for their support , emotional and otherwise, during the book-writing process. I am also appreciative of the hard work of Shona Doyle and Amy Joseph, who have made my work life infinitely easier with their professionalism and warmth, and the diligent research assistance of Courtney Krametbauer, Sarah Takahama, Erin Vuksich, and Eric Asmar. Thanks to NYU Press, Gabrielle Begue, Despina Papazoglou Gimbel, and particularly Deborah Gershenowitz for their dedication to this book from the start. Deborah has been nothing but supportive and encouraging as an editor and has advocated consistently for me, even while dealing with her own important life events. Her excitement is infectious and has helped motivate me to write, even when my energy flagged. Books don’t get written without the often intangible but invaluable support of family and friends. I thank my family for their love and encouragement and for understanding when I was incommunicado for weeks on end. My parents, Judith Treiber and Peter Richman, and stepparents, Danny Esquibel and Susan Richman, and my sisters, Stacey Richman-Arnold and Jessica Richman, have never wavered in their confidence in me or their support for this enterprise. My close friends (too numerous to list—you know who you are) have selflessly listened as I griped about writer’s block and offered valuable and much-appreciated encouragement. I am grateful to the members of the San Quentin TRUST for the Development of Incarcerated Men, who allowed me a seven-month leave of absence as their Executive Advisor while I completed this book and were unquestioningly supportive. I also thank the staff at Samovar Tea Lounge in San Francisco for their hospitality and sustenance during the writing process. Most important, I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all the attorneys, judges, activists, and parents who generously provided legal materials and referrals or agreed to be interviewed for this project. These include Roberta Achtenberg, Michael Adams, Robin Berkovitz, Beverly Collins, Kate Coyne, Kathy Crandall, Beatrice Dohrn, Steve Drizin, Julie Eldridge, Acknowledgments | xi Paula Ettelbrick...