Stoddard 1997

"Bleeding Heart: Reflections On Using the Law to Make Social Change"

Thesis: understanding the interrelationship between law and culture, and the use of law for social change

• Goals of legal advocates for gay rights:

1. Protection from discrimination
2. Freedom from intrusion and harassment
3. Some degree of recognition of queer relationships

• New York is culturally more tolerant of queerness, but legally offers no protections/recognition
• New Zealand is culturally intolerant of queerness, but legally offers protections/recognition
• Assumptions:

1. Society needs change, and there are people committed to that change
2. Employing the law to make change is appropriate

The New Zealand Conundrum

• The 'conundrum': New Zealand is legally progressive with respect to queer protections, but is culturally conservative in this respect
• social change and legal change do not always walk hand-in-hand
  • "one does not stimulate the other"

A Paradigm of Reform

• Goals of lawmaking