Law Commons^™

Incrementalism, Civil Unions, And The Possibility Of Predicting Legal Recognition Of Same-Sex Marriage, Erez Aloni

Erez Aloni

Scholars who have examined the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships in European countries have concluded that the path to the legalization of same-sex marriage follows an incremental process involving specific stages. They suggest that it is possible to predict, based on certain visible social and legal processes or assessable parameters, which U.S. states will be the next to recognize same-sex marriage. These scholars argue that such small cumulative legal changes at the state level constitute the best means of legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States, and that civil unions are a necessary step in this process. This article shows …

'Homosexists': Fanatical Misogynists, Judith A. Reisman Phd

Judith A. Reisman

No abstract provided.

Take 'Pride' In A Death Sentence?, Judith A. Reisman Phd

Judith A. Reisman

No abstract provided.

Big Porno And California's Pot Prop, Judith A. Reisman Phd

Judith A. Reisman

No abstract provided.

Kinsey Minions Continue Child Sex Abuse, Judith A. Reisman Phd

Judith A. Reisman

No abstract provided.

Muslim Female Slavery And Porn In Baghdad, Judith A. Reisman Phd

Judith A. Reisman

No abstract provided.

Reflexiones A Propósito Del Reconocimiento En Argentina Del Matrimonio Igualitario Y El Rol Que Le Corresponde A La Esfera Judicial, Beatriz Ramirez

Beatriz Ramirez

The Case For Repeal Of India's Sodomy Law, Yuvraj Joshi

Yuvraj Joshi

This Article surveys some of the arguments for and against the repeal of India’s sodomy law. The first part analyses s.377 of the Indian Penal Code and considers its consequences for India's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, hijra and kothi persons. The second part provides an overview of the various theoretical and political positions taken in the sodomy law debate. The third part examines the rights-based arguments that have been made in support of repealing or reading down s.377, and the feminist and queer critiques of these arguments. The fourth part considers the arguments against the repeal that have been put …

Sexual Politics And Social Change, Darren L. Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

The Article examines the impact of social movement activity upon the advancement of GLBT rights. It analyzes the state and local strategy that GLBT social movements utilized to alter the legal status of sexual orientation and sexuality following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick. Successful advocacy before state and local courts, human rights commissions, and legislatures fundamentally shifted public opinion and laws regarding sexual orientation and sexuality between Bowers and the Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. This altered landscape created the “political opportunity” for the Lawrence ruling and made the opinion relatively “safe.” Currently, GLBT rights …

The Role Of Lawyers In Trans Liberation: Building A Transformative Movement For Social Change, Gabriel Arkles, Pooja Gehi, Elana Redfield

Gabriel Arkles

No abstract provided.

Federal Hill Protest Targets Landlords, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Melanie Shapiro Esq

Donna M. Hughes

Comment On James Boyd White's Book "Living Speech" (Princeton 2006), Yofi Tirosh

Yofi Tirosh

Professor White introduces a new way for thinking about speech; a new measure for assessing it. He invites us to use speech carefully and responsibly, in what he calls “living speech.” Caring about the value of speech is not merely an aesthetic endeavor. As meaning making creatures, as “centers of meaning,” we should know how to recognize the speech that is essential to our humanness. Because living speech is “what enables any of us to be a person in the first place” (16).

How can we recognize living speech? The short answer that White gives us, which is indeed poetic …

British Sex And The Modern-Day 'Slave Trade', Judith A. Reisman Phd

Judith A. Reisman

No abstract provided.

Federal Hill Resident And Restaurateur Forced To Move Because Of Spa-Brothel, Melanie Shapiro Esq, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Dissecting O'Donnabhain, Anthony C. Infanti

Anthony C. Infanti

In O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner, a sharply divided Tax Court allowed a medical expense deduction for some costs related to sex reassignment surgery. This short commentary examines the opinions in the case and concludes that the taxpayer's victory rings hollow.

The Meaning Of Marriage: Immigration Rules And Their Implications For Same-Sex Spouses In A World Without Doma, Scott Titshaw

Scott Titshaw

An estimated 35,000 U.S. Citizens are living in our country with same-sex foreign partners, but with no right to stay here together on the basis of their relationship. Many are faced with a choice between their partners and the country they love. This is true, even if the couple is legally married in one of the growing number of states and foreign countries that recognize same-sex marriage. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines “marriage” under all federal law as an exclusively heterosexual institution, now stands squarely in their way. Reform options that would help these couples to stay …

Sorry Ma'am, Your Baby Is An Alien: Outdated Immigration Rules And Assisted Reproductive Technology, Scott Titshaw

Scott Titshaw

The growing use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and legal recognition of same-sex relationships are raising questions regarding the recognition of parent-child relationships. State and foreign family law have been wrestling with these issues for decades, but U.S. immigration law is lagging far behind. So far, guidance exists on only one ART related issue under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA): whether a U.S. citizen transmits her citizenship to a child born abroad. Unfortunately, that guidance is contradictory. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) requires genetic kinship for citizenship transmission. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals focuses on the parents’ …

A Name Of One's Own: Gender And Symbolic Legal Personhood In The European Court Of Human Rights, Yofi Tirosh

Yofi Tirosh

Legal regulation of surnames provides a fascinating venue for examining how women negotiate their interests of autonomy and of stable personhood vis a vis a patriarchal naming structure. This is a study of 25 years of adjudication of surnames and personal status at the European Court of Human Rights. It explores the intricate ways in which legal norms governing surnames (and their judicial interpretation) sustain, shape, and reify social institutions such as gender, family, and citizenship.

As a pan European court, the adjudication of the ECHR operates within the framework of human rights. The universal characteristics of human rights principles …

Gay And Lesbian Elders: Estate Planning And End-Of-Life Decisionmaking, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

This Article addresses the three areas of core concern for gay and lesbian elders -- chosen family, financial insecurity, and anti-gay bias in the context of estate planning. The first section provides an overview of the current generation of gay and lesbian elders, including a summary of pre-Stonewall history and existing demographic information. The second section outlines the challenges associated with drafting an estate plan that favors chosen family over next of kin. The third section engages the topic of financial insecurity, discussing various benefits and government programs, such as social security and Medicaid planning. The fourth and final section …

The Rise, Fall And Rise Again Of The Genetic Foundation For Legal Parentage Determination, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

Recently, we have witnessed dramatic changes in the formation of the family and parenthood. One of the results of those shifts is a growing number of children growing up outside of the traditional marriage framework. Therefore, the dilemma of determining a child's parentage, which was usually resolved by a legal fiction as to the child's legal parents, is becoming increasingly problematic. It is appropriate that any discussion of the establishment of legal parentage should start with a study of the rise of the most popular modern model, the genetic model.

It is relevant to point out that from the beginning …

'Freedom Of Contract' In Halachic Family Law? – A Comparison Of The Babylonian Talmud And The Palestinian Talmud, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

Recently we are witness to a growing interest in nuptial agreements, both in Jewish and civil law. In civil law it is customary to trace the “meta-story” of the development of civil family law from sacrament to status and from status to contract. Indeed, during the last fifty years we have seen how nuptial agreements developed to regulate different aspects of marriage in civil law, both in Israel and in the rest of the world. During the last twenty-five years an interest has also emerged in halakhic perspectives on “freedom of contract,” which is available for couples who wish to …

International Human Rights Law And Co-Parent Adoption, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Children would benefit substantially if governments legally recognized same sex marriages and parenting. This article analyzes international human rights law, co-parent adoption, and the recognition of gay and lesbian families. It addresses civil marriage and adoption challenges for same sex families and assesses European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence relating to same-sex adoption. This article considers the international community's efforts to implement the best interest of the child standard concluding that recognition of same sex families is in the best interest of the child and should be facilitated in a timely manner by jurisdictions at all levels.

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 …

Credit For Motherhood, Melissa Jacoby

Melissa B. Jacoby

This essay builds on prior work exploring the impact of consumer lenders who sell credit products for assisted reproduction and adoption. After reviewing some basic attributes of the parenthood lending market, the essay discusses how not-for-profit lenders promote traditional conceptions of motherhood and the division of carework in ways that credit discrimination laws were not designed to address. The essay also articulates some incentives of for-profit lenders to sell motherhood and potential implications for women who are ambivalent about becoming parents.

T: Appending Transgender Equal Rights To Gay, Lesbian And Bisexual Equal Rights, Libby Adler

Libby S. Adler

Advocates for transgender constituencies are making crucial choices right now about what kind of reformist tracks to lay for themselves. The appending of “T” to “LGB” suggests the likelihood of following in the steps of the mainstream advocates for the sexuality constituencies, one characterized by a quest for formal equality based on an assumed identity. This paper urges that transgender advocates consider fully the costs of this course before charging headlong in a direction that might at first hold obvious appeal. Such a course has had under-recognized costs for the sexuality-based constituencies and costs for transgender constituencies are already beginning …

Drawing Bisexuality Back Into The Picture: How Bisexuality Fits Into Lgbt Legal Strategy 10 Years After Bisexual Erasure, Heron Greenesmith

Heron Greenesmith

In 2000, Kenji Yoshino published a paper exploring the social erasure of bisexuality. He introduces the paper by empirically proving that bisexuality was invisible through a quick survey of popular news sources that featured volumes more articles about homosexuality than bisexuality. Once he shows that bisexuality is invisible, he makes sure to distinguish between the incidental invisibility of bisexuality, perhaps because of the low number of bisexuals, and its deliberate erasure. Erasure is a deliberate act that involves the participation of people who seek to erase. Yoshino theorizes that monosexuals (heterosexuals and homosexuals) created an epistemic contract to erase bisexuality …

Disrupting Sexual Categories Of Intimate Preference, Luke A. Boso

Luke A. Boso

Society tends to treat a person's sexual orientation and intimate preferences as if those concepts are static and immutable. People regularly divide themselves into binary gay and straight categories, and similarly seek masculine or feminine qualities in an appropriately sexed person. These intimate preferences occupy a uniquely private position in society, and the characteristics to which people claim attraction are thought so personal as to be sacred. In turn, we resist characterizing our intimate preferences as discrimination despite the tangible harms that befall those who are disproportionately excluded from romantic opportunities. But individual discriminatory intimate practices do not necessarily imply …

Statutes Undermine The Progress Made: The Criminalisation Of Positive Women, Aziza Ahmed, Beri Hull, Alice Welbourn, Emma Bell, Heidi Nass

Aziza Ahmed

Criminalisation laws have a specific and nuanced impact on women living with HIV. An understanding of the consequences of such laws will help positive women and other advocates to combat negative uses of such laws, and to frame and advocate for effective alternatives for HIV prevention. This article helps tease out some of the ways that criminalisation can negatively impact the lives of positive women in particular: the explicit sex discrimination in the laws, the gender bias in courtrooms, the impact on marginalised women, and the increase in stigma and discrimination through criminalisation laws.

Religion-Based Claims For Impinging On Queer Citizenship, Donn Short, Bruce Macdougall

Donn Short

Competing claims for legal protection based on religion and on sexual orientation have arisen fairly frequently in Canada in the past decade or so. The authors place such competitions into five categories based on the nature of who is making the claim and who is impacted, the site of the competition, and the extent to which the usual legal and constitutional norms applicable are affected. Three of the five categories identified involve a claim that a religion operate in some form in the public area so as to impinge on the usual protection of equality on the basis of sexual …

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 …