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This chapter examines alternatives to marriage that are available to same-sex couples. It first considers how the debate over same-sex marriage can lead to the slippery equity slope, in which one equity or fairness comparison generates another. In particular, it discusses comparisons between legally married different-sex couples and same-sex couples who cannot marry, between married and unmarried gay couples, and between married same-sex couples and people who are in nonromantic relationships. It then discusses the so-called political equity trap and whether there is a demand for alternatives to marriage and goes on to argue that policymakers, activists, and even voters must be able to decide on the right way to approach the issue of fairness for same-sex couples. Citing the experience in Europe and in states like Vermont and California, it suggests that alternatives to marriage are useful only if they are transitional statuses on the way to full equality for same-sex couples.

This book has explored the debate over same-sex marriage in the United States and whether marriage as an institution would be damaged by allowing same-sex couples to marry. Drawing on the experience of the Netherlands and other European countries, it has argued that marriage poses more of a challenge to gay people than gay people do to marriage. It has cited evidence based on the actions of same-sex couples in the Netherlands suggesting that gay people are interested in marriage for the same reasons that heterosexual couples are, such as the desire to have a child or to affirm and express their commitment to each other and to the world. It has also discussed the arguments against gay marriage as well as the positive gains that marriage can provide to gay couples, along with alternatives to marriage.

Same-sex marriage debates in recent years have prompted a broader questioning of the institution of marriage. This chapter argues that we should take this opportunity to imagine the widest possible range of alternatives to our current marriage regime—or what this chapter calls countermarriage regimes. The chapter draws on an unlikely source of legal innovation to expand our thinking about marriage alternatives: literature. Literature offers an array of countermarriage regimes, including exploding marriage, three-strikes marriage, line marriage, renewable marriage, and exculpatory marriage. In addition to opening our minds to countermarriage possibilities, the chapter shows some overlooked synergies between law and literature.