Over the last decade, equal rights for same-sex couples has proven to be one of this country's most pressing political and civil rights issues. \"The Air We Breathe\" takes its title from a Langston Hughes poem and brings together 27 visual artists and seven poets who offer eloquent and challenging contributions to the cause of marriage equality for same-sex couples. Works on paper by Laylah Ali, D-L Alvarez, Simon Fujiwara, Robert Gober, Raymond Pettibon, Amy Sillman, Allison Smith and 20 other equally compelling contemporary artists are interspersed with new poetry by John Ashbery, Kevin Killian, Ariana Reines, Anne Waldman and others. With essays by three further prominent, outspoken writers–Eileen Myles, Martha Nussbaum and Frank Rich–the book and the exhibition it accompanies generate awareness and dialog about the discrimination many citizens encounter on a daily basis because. Its message is aptly expressed in Hughes's words: ''equality is in the air we breathe.'' San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2011 9.5 x 11 inches, 172 pp., color illustrations Hardcover, ISBN 9780918471864