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Full-Text Articles in Law

Transgender Theory: Reprogramming Our Automated Settings, Marybeth Herald Oct 2005

Transgender Theory: Reprogramming Our Automated Settings, Marybeth Herald

Marybeth Herald

Over the course of the last few decades, both law and society have struggled to deprogram unhelpful and downright destructive gender stereotypes that are ubiquitous in our everyday existence. It has not been an easy task, nor entirely successful on either the legal or cultural front. Laws that prohibit gender discrimination, such as Title VII, have helped end overt discrimination. The next phase involves the challenging problem of unconscious bias, which often effectively keeps us treading the same mental paths while bypassing any roads not traveled.

It is not surprising then that when the validity of even the basic categories …


Eyes Wide Shut: Erasing Women's Experience, From The Clinic To The Courtroom, Marybeth Herald, Ellen Waldman Jun 2005

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 …


The Future Of Sodomy, Libby Adler Feb 2005

The Future Of Sodomy, Libby Adler

Libby S. Adler

This article is based on a talk given at the plenary session on Lawrence v. Texas at the 2003 Lavender Law Conference held at Fordham Law School. It takes its cue from Justice Holmes that law is about prediction, and scours Lawrence for indications about sodomy’s future. Specifically, what in Lawrence might benefit sex? What in Lawrence might confirm or disrupt hetero- and homosexual identities? This article celebrates Lawrence as a victory, but cautions against ignoring a handful of danger signs for sexual practices and categories.


Troubling The Definition Of Pornography: Little Sisters, A New Defining Moment In Feminists' Engagement With The Law?, Lara Karaian Jan 2005

Troubling The Definition Of Pornography: Little Sisters, A New Defining Moment In Feminists' Engagement With The Law?, Lara Karaian

Lara Karaian

This article explores feminism’s relationship to the legal regulation of pornography. Of particular interest to the author is how the defining moment of the Butler decision has been opened up to contestation and complication by Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium et. al. v. Minister of Justice et al., a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision regarding Canada Customs violations of the free expression and equality rights of a Vancouver-based gay and lesbian bookstore. The focus of the article is on the role that the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) played in both Butler and Little Sisters. The …


September 11 Relief Efforts And Surviving Same-Sex Partners: Reflections On Relationships In The Absence Of Legal Recognition, Nancy J. Knauer Jan 2005

September 11 Relief Efforts And Surviving Same-Sex Partners: Reflections On Relationships In The Absence Of Legal Recognition, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

The criteria established by federal, state, and private relief efforts to assist the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks present a unique opportunity to examine the status of same-sex relationships in the United States. In the absence of uniform relationship recognition, surviving same-sex partners continue to struggle with a loss that legally is not cognizable. The stories from the September 11 survivors illustrate that a surviving partner is a legal stranger, who often must reconfigure her relationship with her partner to fit within the various legal categories where relief or compensation might be forthcoming. These legal categories …


Embracing Segregation: The Jurisprudence Of Choice And Diversity In Race And Sex Separatism In Schools, Nancy Levit Jan 2005

Embracing Segregation: The Jurisprudence Of Choice And Diversity In Race And Sex Separatism In Schools, Nancy Levit

Nancy Levit

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, segregation based on race and sex is sweeping the nation's educational systems. Courts are rapidly dismantling desegregation orders, and when those desegregation orders end, school districts racially resegregate. At precisely the same time this end to racial desegregation is occurring, the government is beginning to sponsor sex segregation in schools as well. The No Child Left Behind Act provides over $400 million in federal funds for experiments in education, such as single-sex schools and classes. Embracing Segregation draws connections between the end of racial desegregation and the beginning of government-sponsored sex segregation …


Lifting The Pall Of Orthodoxy: The Need For Hearing A Multitude Of Tongues In And Beyond The Sexual Education Curricula At Public High Schools, Carlo A. Pedrioli Jan 2005

Lifting The Pall Of Orthodoxy: The Need For Hearing A Multitude Of Tongues In And Beyond The Sexual Education Curricula At Public High Schools, Carlo A. Pedrioli

Carlo A. Pedrioli

When public high schools promote heterosexuality at the cost of denying sexual minority youth the opportunity to learn about minority sexualities, these schools contribute to the disastrous situation in which many sexual minority high school students find themselves. This approach, which many public high schools take, is unnecessarily destructive and warrants prompt change. Instead of helping to perpetuate many of the challenges that sexual minority students face in high school, public high schools can and need to help address these challenges.

To establish the case for such a position, this article begins by presenting the plight of many sexual minority …


The Heightened Standard Of Judicial Review In Cases Of Governmental Gender-Based Discrimination: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’S Influence On The U.S. Supreme Court In Craig V. Boren, Carlo A. Pedrioli Jan 2005

The Heightened Standard Of Judicial Review In Cases Of Governmental Gender-Based Discrimination: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’S Influence On The U.S. Supreme Court In Craig V. Boren, Carlo A. Pedrioli

Carlo A. Pedrioli

This paper argues that, as an amicus curiae who was working for the American Civil Liberties Union, Ruth Bader Ginsburg influenced the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision-making in the landmark 1976 case of Craig v. Boren. Craig, which received national news coverage from the New York Times, provided women, and men, with greater protection against governmental gender-based discrimination. In making the argument, this paper initially provides a brief, but essential note on heightened scrutiny in equal protection cases. Next, the paper compares the arguments of Ginsburg and Justice William Brennan, who wrote the opinion of the Court. Finally, the paper explains …


Sexually Expressive Materials For Gay Men: Sex Discrimination Or Subversive Potential?, Donn Short Dec 2004

Sexually Expressive Materials For Gay Men: Sex Discrimination Or Subversive Potential?, Donn Short

Donn Short

This article reviews Christopher N. Kendall's book Gay Male Pornography: An Issue of Sex Discrimination. In particular, this article focuses on the analysis of the Little Sisters case and the harms-based test articulated in the Butler decision. Kendall's book explains his position that gay male pornography is a problem of sex discrimination, and the harm of gay pronography is not propertly understood under current theoretical models. Short challenges Kendall's assessment of gay male pornography.