This seminar will critically examine the family, marriage, and gender by asking several basic questions: What is family? What is marriage? Why do family and marriage matter to individuals and to society? What role does or should law have in supporting and regulating families and marriage? In defining parenthood? How do ideas about gender and proper gender roles in intimate and public life feature in answering these questions? This seminar will focus on three contemporary problems: the ongoing public and legal debate over same-sex marriage and the rapidly evolving social, political, and legal landscape; the class-based divide in marriage and parenting, linked to growing economic inequality in the United States; and defining parenthood in an era in which changes in social and legal norms about family and gender along with the advent of assisted reproductive technology (ART) make new pathways to parenthood possible.