Wendy Kaminer

Wendy Kaminer is a former senior correspondent for The American Prospect and a contributing editor at The Atlantic Monthly. She also serves on the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union.

A lawyer, social critic, and former Guggenheim Fellow, she writes about law, liberty, feminism, religion, and popular culture. Her latest book is Free for All: Defending Liberty in America Today. Other books she has written include Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety; True Love Waits: Essays and Criticism; It's All the Rage: Crime and Culture; I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and Other Self-Help Fashions; and A Fearful Freedom: Women's Flight from Equality. Kaminer's articles and reviews have appeared in many other publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, and Newsweek, and her commentaries have aired on National Public Radio.

Before embarking on her writing career, Kaminer practiced law as a staff attorney in the New York Legal Aid Society and the New York City Mayor's Office.

Wendy Kaminer retains copyrights to all her articles.

Recent Articles

Divided We Stand

Wendy KaminerDec 19, 2001

Obedient as always, in quest of good grades, Al Gore delivered the excessively gracious concession speech that pundits told him to deliver: Pledging his absolute support for George Bush, he urged us to set aside partisanship and embrace patriotism; echoing Bush, he urged us to stand united, not divided, and most of all encouraged us to "heal."

Sex and Money:

Wendy KaminerDec 19, 2001

"Why Move On? This is too much fun," the headline on the February 26th issue of The Weekly Standard proclaims. Above it runs a color photo of a bizarre quartet: Bill and Hillary Clinton arm in arm with Michael Jackson and Denise Rich, big jewelry and big smiles all around. (It's almost as amusing as the photo over my desk of a tuxedo clad Bob Dylan happily ensconced between Charlton Heston and Lauren Bacall at a Kennedy Center award ceremony.)

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State Of The Union:

Wendy KaminerDec 19, 2001

Last night, President Clinton gave his final State of the Union address. Clinton was expected to use the speech to burnish his record for the history books while pumping the campaigns of both his vice president, Al Gore, and his wife, Hillary Clinton. The American Prospect asked the experts to give us their take on the proceedings.

Wendy Kaminer:

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Gay Rites

Wendy KaminerDec 19, 2001

While civil libertarians celebrated the recent decision by the Vermont Supreme Court recognizing the rights of gay and lesbian couples to wed or enter domestic partnerships, Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer suggested that gay marriages were more immoral than murder. "I think what the Vermont Supreme Court did last week was in some ways worse than terrorism," Bauer declared.

Bigots' Rights

Wendy KaminerDec 19, 2001

Should evangelical Christian groups at colleges and universities be permitted to discriminate against gay and lesbian students? Do the Boy Scouts have a constitutional right to exclude openly gay males? The first question is at the center of efforts by liberal colleges and universities to punish evangelical student groups for their illiberal views. The second question will soon be decided by the Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale. Both controversies dramatize the challenge exclusionary private groups pose to laws and social norms that celebrate inclusion. How do we balance the free speech and associational rights of bigots with the drive for full equality?

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Wendy Kaminer

Recent Articles

Divided We Stand

Sex and Money:

State Of The Union:

Gay Rites

Bigots' Rights

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