Law Commons^™

Sexual Orientation, Equal Treatment And The Right To Manifest Religion: Lee V Mcarthur, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

The Responsibility Of Victory: Confronting The Systemic Subordination Of Lgbt Youth And Considering A Positive Role For The State, Julie Nice

Julie A. Nice

In light of the stunning cascade of recent victories ending some aspects of sexual orientation discrimination, this article calls for both the LGBT Rights Movement and the State to take responsibility for ending the systemic subordination of LGBT youth. This article’s first section synthesizes the alarming data demonstrating the disproportionate harms suffered by LGBT youth within the very institutions designed to protect them. Professor Nice categorizes these experiences as including rejection by families, hostility from faith communities, harshness from the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, harassment in schools, and destitution and violence on the streets. She further argues that …

Sexual Orientation: A Plea For Inclusion, Sharon E. Rush

Sharon E. Rush

White women and people of color have made significant scholarly contribution toward a better understanding of patriarchy and racial hegemony. Other outsider scholars, such as lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals, also have spoken out about how hegemony subordinates them to the dominant culture. That subordination creates a common pain of exclusion. All subordinated people should explore the sources of common pain that come from exclusion from the power and privilege generally enjoyed by members of the dominant culture.

Policing Masculinity In Small-Town America, Luke A. Boso

Luke A. Boso

This Article explores masculinity in rural areas, and it addresses bullying and harassment of gay, bisexual, transgender, and otherwise gender non-conforming boys and men. While all men are under constant pressure to perform masculinity correctly and act like a "real" man, rural boys and men experience unique forms and degrees of gender policing and victimization. The confluence of geographic, social, religious, and economic characteristics common in many rural areas results in few available options for exhibiting acceptable masculinity; even benign and seemingly gender neutral traits quickly become proxies for effeminacy. Moreover, the cultural salience of rurality in the construction of …

Urban Bias, Rural Sexual Minorities, And The Courts, Luke Boso

Luke A. Boso

Urban bias shapes social perceptions about sexual minorities. Predominant cultural narratives geographically situate sexual minorities in urban gay communities, dictate the contours of how to be a modern gay person, and urge sexual minorities to “come out” and assimilate into gay communities and culture. This Article contests the urban presumption commonly applied to all sexual minorities and focuses specifically on how it affects rural sexual minorities, who remain largely invisible in the public discourse about sexuality and equality.

This Article makes two important contributions. First, by exposing urban bias, it contributes to a broader discussion about how law and society …

Situation, Frames, And Stereotypes: Cognitive Barriers On The Road To Nondiscrimination, Marybeth Herald

Marybeth Herald

The psychological literature enhances our understanding of discrimination. This essay discusses three examples of how that literature can contribute to limiting destructive gender bias in the workplace, in private interactions, and in the courtroom. First, situational pressures have a powerful influence on our actions and must be taken into account in combating employment discrimination. A workplace designed for traditional male needs (limited parenting and home responsibilities) will continue to pressure females out of the workplace or childbearing despite formal equality rules. Second, the use of the term “disorder” as a frame for describing persons with an intersex condition may not …

Beyond The Binary: What Can Feminists Learn From Intersex And Transgender Jurisprudence?, Marybeth Herald

Marybeth Herald

This panel discussion focuses on recent developments in the intersex and transsexual communities. Recently, both movements have undergone profound changes and each has provided new and unique theoretical and practical perspectives that can potentially benefit other social justice groups. This dialogue describes these developments. It also emphasizes the importance of feminist, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex activists becoming aware of the goals that they share and areas where their interests may diverge. As each of these movements develops their legal strategies, they need to be conscious of the potentially positive and negative ramifications that their approaches may have on …

The Unjust Exclusion Of Gay Sperm Donors: Litigation Strategies To End Discrimination In The Gene Pool, Luke A. Boso

Luke A. Boso

In May 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a final rule to be published in the Federal Register that would establish eligibility criteria for persons seeking to donate sperm and other human cells and tissues. Concurrently, the FDA issued a draft guidance document that provides recommendations for complying with the requirements, listing men who have had sex with another man in the preceding 5 years (MSMs) as the number one risk factor. The FDA does not, however, make a distinction between MSMs who practice safe sex and those who have unprotected sex, nor does it identify men who …

Eyes Wide Shut: Erasing Women's Experience, From The Clinic To The Courtroom, Marybeth Herald, Ellen Waldman

Marybeth Herald

n his decade long exploration of female sexuality, Sigmund Freud professed to be on a mission to answer the elusive question, what do women want. Unfortunately, the 19th century psychiatrist was unable to separate that question from the one he ultimately answered, What do men want women to want? In some sense, Freud's inquiries provide an apt metaphor for the medical professions' stance toward female experience. When confronted with the difference presented by the female body as well as women's unique life experience, the medical field has responded with approaches that range from bemusement to hostility to intense indifference.

Although …

Revisiting Gay Rights Coalition Of Georgetown Law Center V. Georgetown University A Decade Later: Free Exercise Challenges And The Nondiscrimination Laws Protecting Homosexuals, Matthew J. Parlow

Matthew Parlow

United States. V. Virginia New Gender Equal Protection Analysis With Ramifications For Pregnancy, Parenting And Title Vii.Pdf, Candace Kovacic-Fleischer

Candace Kovacic-Fleischer