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Litigation, Legislation, And Love: The Comparative Efficacy Of Litigation And Legislation For The Expansion Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Civil Rights, Mallory Harrington

Honors College Theses

This research examines the comparative efficacy of federal appellate court decisions and federal legislation with regards to the furtherance of civil rights on the basis of sexual orientation. The research examines efficacy based upon the number of measures which have been implemented as well as the content of each measure. The research examines federal appellate and Supreme Court decisions, as well as adopted pieces of federal legislation since 1950. It also examines the likely causes of the disparities in efficacy that are indicated in this analysis. The findings of this research indicate that litigation has been much more effective at …

Mckenzie, Ellen, Caroline Wheeler, Marwa Ibrahim

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

This interview features Ellen McKenzie, an African-American lesbian woman living in Portland, Maine. Having lived in Portland for almost her entire life, Ellen can provide insight on growing up in one of the only black families in her community, the intersections between race and sexuality, co-parenting children from a spouse’s previous marriage and generally navigating the world and her career as a queer woman of color. Throughout this interview, we hear a lot about her childhood and her family’s history as civil rights activists in Maine, her relationship with her spouse and and co-parenting their children with both her spouse, …

Lg Ms 027 Diane Elze Papers Finding Aid, Elizabeth Sistare, Nicholas Martin

Search the Manuscript Collection (Finding Aids)

Description:

A 1978 graduate of the University of Maine, Orono, Diane Elze began her volunteer career working for the YWCA Fair Harbor Shelter in Portland, Maine. She was an activist in the LGBT community in the Portland area in the 1980s and 1990s. Among other activities, she was a founding member of the Maine Lesbian Gay Political Alliance, worked on the AIDS Project, and founded the LGBT youth group, Outright. She also edited the newsletter Moving, The Newspaper of the Maine Association of Handicapped Persons and founded the statewide gay and lesbian newspaper, Our Paper. Elze earned a Master’s Degree …

Beyond Racial Precedents: Loving V. Virginia As An Appropriate Legal Model And Strategy For Same-Sex Marriage Litigation, Michael J. Csere

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis explores how LGBT marriage activists and lawyers have employed a racial interpretation of due process and equal protection in recent same-sex marriage litigation. Special attention is paid to the Supreme Court's opinion in Loving v. Virginia, the landmark case that declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. By exploring the use of racial precedent in same-sex marriage litigation and its treatment in state court cases, this thesis critiques the racial interpretation of due process and equal protection that became the basis for LGBT marriage briefs and litigation, and attempts to answer the question of whether a racial interpretation of due process …

Gay And Lesbian Elders: History, Law, And Identity Politics In The United States, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

The approximately two million gay and lesbian elders in the United States are an underserved and understudied population. At a time when gay men and lesbians enjoy an unprecedented degree of social acceptance and legal protection, many elders face the daily challenges of aging isolated from family, detached from the larger gay and lesbian community, and ignored by mainstream aging initiatives. Drawing on materials from law, history, and social theory, this book integrates practical proposals for reform with larger issues of sexuality and identity. Beginning with a summary of existing demographic data and offering a historical overview of pre-Stonewall views …

September 11 Attacks And Surviving Same-Sex Partners: Defining Family Through Tragedy, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

The September 11 relief efforts present a unique prism through which to view the status of same-sex relationships and to consider which families count when the United States is supposedly at its most generous, most united, and most injured. On a basic human level, would the nation grieve for Peggy Neff, who lost her partner of 18 years when Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, as it had for the widow of a fire fighter? Would Neff be eligible to file a claim with the multi-billion dollar federal September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which Congress established to compensate victims and …

"Simply So Different": The Uniquely Expressive Character Of The Openly Gay Individual After Boy Scouts V. Dale, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

Boy Scouts v. Dale was uniformly considered a set back for gay rights. Undeniably, it was not a good result for James Dale or other openly gay individuals who would like to participate in the largest youth organization in the U.S. This Article views Boy Scouts v. Dale in a different light and suggests that the expressive character of the openly gay individual endorsed by the majority may signal an opportunity to argue for greater First Amendment protections. The majority recognized that a single avowal of homosexuality imbues the openly gay individual with a uniquely expressive character. Wherever he goes, …

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.5, No.1 (March 2000), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.4, No.6 (September-October 1999), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.4, No.5 (March-April 1999), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.3, No.4 (October-December [1998]), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.2, No.3 (August- September 1998), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.2, No.1 (January-February 1998), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.1, No.8 (September 1997), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.1, No.7 (August 1997), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.1, No.6 (July 1997), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.1, No.5 (June 1997), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.1, No.4 (May 1997), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.1, No.3 (April 1997), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Common Circle For Human Rights, Vol.1, No.2 (March 1997), M. Lichtman

Common Circle for Human Rights (1997-2000)

No abstract provided.

Relativism, Reflective Equilibrium, And Justice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

THIS PAPER IS THE CO-WINNER OF THE FRED BERGER PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW FOR THE 1999 AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BEST PUBLISHED PAPER IN THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS.

The conflict between liberal legal theory and critical legal studies (CLS) is often framed as a matter of whether there is a theory of justice that the law should embody which all rational people could or must accept. In a divided society, the CLS critique of this view is overwhelming: there is no such justice that can command universal assent. But the liberal critique of CLS, that it degenerates into …