I’m pleased to announce the publication of this new volume of essays, Religious Freedom, LGBT Rights, and the Prospects for Common Ground (CUP), edited by Professors Robin Fretwell Wilson and William N. Eskridge, Jr. The book contains an admirably broad range of perspectives on the sundry conflicts ahead and behind involving these often clashing civil rights. I’m biased in the book’s favor, since the authors generously included me as one of the contributors. My chapter, On the Uses of Anti-Christian Identity Politics, can be read in draft here.

The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons (LGBT) are strongly contested by certain faith communities, and this confrontation has become increasingly pronounced following the adjudication of a number of legal cases. As the strident arguments of both sides enter a heated political arena, it brings forward the deeply contested question of whether there is any possibility of both communities’ contested positions being reconciled under the same law. This volume assembles impactful voices from the faith, LGBT advocacy, legal, and academic communities – from the Human Rights Campaign and ACLU to the National Association of Evangelicals and Catholic and LDS churches. The contributors offer a 360-degree view of culture-war conflicts around faith and sexuality – from Obergefell to Masterpiece Cakeshop – and explore whether communities with such profound differences in belief are able to reach mutually acceptable solutions in order to both live with integrity.