Sexuality and the Law Commons^™

“The Pursuit Of Happiness” Comes Home To Roost? Same-Sex Union, The Summum Bonum, And Equality, Patrick Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

John Locke understood human happiness to amount to the removal of "uneasiness." This paper argues that,to the extent that the United States is a nation dedicated to "the pursuit of happiness" understood as the removal of "uneasiness," same-sex unions or marriages should be given legal recognition. While Locke defended a variation on traditional marriage on the grounds of progenitiveness and care for dependent offspring, his more foundational commitment to the importance of the removal of uneasiness precludes, on pain of inconsistency, limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. This paper argues, furthermore, that conservatives and neo-conservatives who celebrate this nation's being …

Baker V. State And The Promise Of The New Judicial Federalism, Charles Baron, Lawrence Friedman

Charles H. Baron

In Baker v. State, the Supreme Court of Vermont ruled that the state constitution’s Common Benefits Clause prohibits the exclusion of same-sex couples from the benefits and protections of marriage. Baker has been praised by constitutional scholars as a prototypical example of the New Judicial Federalism. The authors agree, asserting that the decision sets a standard for constitutional discourse by dint of the manner in which each of the opinions connects and responds to the others, pulls together arguments from other state and federal constitutional authorities, and provides a clear basis for subsequent development of constitutional principle. This Article explores …

The Slippery Slope To Polygamy And Incest, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

The Law Of The Land: Will Gay Marriage Change Marriage, And If So, How?, Martha Ertman

Martha M. Ertman

This panel, moderated by Naomi Cahn, included presentations by Martha Ertman, Liza Mundy, and Jonathan Rauch.

Extraterritoriality And The Sexual Conduct Of Australians Overseas, Danielle Ireland-Piper

Danielle Ireland-Piper

In April 2010, the Australian Parliament inserted Division 272 into the Criminal Code (Cth).[1]3 The division is entitled ‘Child sex offences outside Australia’ and contains various offences relating to sexual intercourse or sexual activity, even where that activity takes place overseas. The title of its predecessor (Part IIIA of the Crimes Act 1914) was ‘Child Sex Tourism’. However, the scope of the offences under both Part IIIA and Division 272 extends to conduct that takes place overseas with no territorial nexus to Australia other that the Australian citizenship or residency of the offender. For example, an Australian citizen who is …

Introduction, Martha Ertman

Martha M. Ertman

No abstract provided.

3qs: Obama Administration Fights Gay Marriage Ban, Jason Kornwitz

Martha F. Davis

No abstract provided.

Sex And Equality (Symposium), Katharine Baker

Katharine K. Baker

This essay, to be published in Boston University Law Review’s symposium on Hanna Rosin’s book, The End of Men, challenges Rosin’s suggestion that contemporary sexual norms on college campuses serve women’s interests well. Unpacking the same data that Rosin uses to defend hook-up culture on women’s behalf, the essay argues that hook-up norms facilitate rape and may help explain the high rate of sexual assault on college campuses. Hook-up norms also perpetuate the sexual double standard, disproportionately hurt lower income women who cannot compete in hook-up status games, and valorize boorish, selfish male sexual behavior. In doing so, hook-up norms …

Gun Control, Mental Illness, And Black Trans And Lesbian Survival, Gabriel Arkles

Gabriel Arkles

Those concerned with racial, gender, sexual, economic, or disability justice should be concerned about the direction and focus of national conversations in the wake of Newtown. Controversies over gun control and mental health treatment have a profound impact on those marginalized based on race, gender, sexuality, class, and disability. Gun control laws endanger trans people of color and queer women of color, as well as those labeled mentally ill, by failing to reduce interpersonal violence while increasing the violence of the criminal legal system. Instead of increasing incarceration of people in marginalized communities who choose to carry guns, we should …

Sex As A Team Sport: A Reaction To Hanna Rosin's The End Of Men, Libby Adler

Libby S. Adler

Surely any proclamation that the “End of Men” is upon us is an overstatement. The idea that men are over, at least insofar as they are defined by their economic superiority, is a notion with which to toy, not one to observe as an empirical truth, despite the tenor of empiricism that pervades both the essay and the book. Perhaps, though, we can derive some fresh value by stepping back and considering the framework Hanna Rosin constructs through her title and larger analysis: that of a transcultural, transhistorical match up – boys versus girls, brawn versus brains, gander versus goose …

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 …