Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Are Same-Sex Marriage Statutes The New Anti-Gay Initiatives?, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

No abstract provided.

Choosing One's Family: Can The Legal System Address The Breadth Of Women's Choices Of Intimate Relationships, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

In discussing the legal system's response to alternative families seeking an extension of traditional family benefits, this paper is divided into two main sections. The first section summarizes the Madison experience in trying to pass a comprehensive alternative family rights ordinance. It takes an in-depth look at the entire process from the grassroots pressures on the M.E.O.C. which resulted in formation of the task force to the Common Council's enactment of two minor sections of the proposed ordinance. It will analyze the political and legal process used in an effort to obtain significant reform in the definition of family within …

Confessions Of A Commentator: Recognizing One’S Own Exclusion Of Race And Ethnicity From Sexual Orientation Scholarship, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

In this piece, introducing the January 1998, panel on "Race and Sexual Orientation in Legal Scholarship" at the American Association of Law Schools conference, Professor Cox reflects on her own scholarship, concluding that "[w]e need to change the whiteness of gay and lesbian scholarship...to eliminate a notion that, when we talk of issues concerning gay and lesbian liberation, we are only talking about liberating white people from the heterosexism of our society."

"Coming Out": The Practical Battles From Being Visible As A Lesbian, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

No abstract provided.

But Why Not Marriage: Some Thoughts On Vermont’S Civil Unions Law, Same-Sex Marriage, And Separate But (Un)Equal, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

This article is divided into three sections. Section one considers the positive results from the civil unions law. It recognizes that this legislation represents an important step along the path toward full recognition of same-sex couples by extending significant rights, benefits, and responsibilities beyond opposite-sex marriage." With these benefits, however, come several problems. Section two places the civil unions law along side other examples of "separate but equal" restrictions in the race and sex contexts and considers it within the sexual orientation context. This section explains how government-sponsored segregation has always caused damage to both groups that are taught they …

Same-Sex Marriage And The Public Policy Exception In Choice-Of-Law: Does It Really Exist?, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

No abstract provided.

Adoptions By Lesbian And Gay Parents Must Be Recognized By Sister States Under The Full Faith And Credit Clause Despite Anti-Marriage Statutes That Discriminate Against Same-Sex Couples, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

No abstract provided.

A (Personal) Essay On Same-Sex Marriage, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

In this article Barbara Cox examines the institution of marriage in the gay and lesbian community from a personal perspective. Prof. Cox reviews recent articles in the gay and lesbian literature arguing both for and against marriage as a political goal for homosexuals. She then relates experiences arising out of her marriage to her partner, Peg. The author advocates same- sex unions as a way to radically restructure the institution of marriage while challenging heterosexual assumptions about gay and lesbian love.

Using An “Incidents Of Marriage” Analysis When Considering Interstate Recognition Of Same-Sex Couples’ Marriages, Civil Unions, And Domestic Partnerships, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

Despite discussions for over ten years, we still do not have any decisions on interstate or international recognition of marriages by same-sex couples. We do have, however, six cases in the United States on the interstate recognition and validation of Vermont civil unions. In these six cases, same-sex couples from six different states who had entered into Vermont civil unions came to their courts seeking resolution of legal issues that arose in their relationships. The rest of this article now turns to these six decisions and considers how each court dealt with the same-sex couple seeking legal assistance with the …

Amicus Curiae Brief To The Supreme Court Of Wisconsin In Holtzmann V. Knott On Behalf Of The National Center For Lesbian Rights, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

This brief, with an introduction by Prof. Barbara Cox, was written by her and filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court on behalf of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. That case involved a custody and visitation claim filed by a non-biological parent of H.S.H-K, who had participated in the decision to have and raise the child with the child's biological parent. The court granted the petition and in doing so, became the first state supreme court to recognize the visitation rights of a non-biological lesbian parent.

Alternative Families: Obtaining Traditional Family Benefits Through Litigation, Legislation And Collective Bargaining, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

This article will first discuss the constitutional and equitable basis for extending rights to alternative families. Next, it will discuss each major protection and benefit granted to traditional families and then examine the litigation, legislation, and collective bargaining agreements obtaining or attempting to obtain the same benefit for alternative families. This article will end by arguing that equity and justice require an extension of these benefits to alternative families.

Same-Sex Marriage And Choice Of Law: If We Marry In Hawaii, Are We Still Married When We Get Home?, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

This Article explores the choice-of-law question of whether a same-sex couple, married in Hawaii after successful completion of the Baehr v. Lewin case, will have their marriage recognized by the state of their domicile upon their return from Hawaii. This Article first applauds the Baehr court's decision that prohibiting same-sex marriage is unconstitutional sex discrimination but then critiques its decision that the fundamental right to marry does not extend to same-sex couples.

The second Part considers the choice-of-law questions that will arise in cases litigating the validity of a couple's same-sex marriage upon their return to their domicile. It considers …

Love Makes A Family--Nothing More, Nothing Less: How The Judicial System Has Refused To Protect Nonlegal Parents In Alternative Families, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

Part I of this article discusses the legal system's recognition of parental rights and enumerates the possible constitutional, statutory, and equitable theories available for protecting the parental rights of nonlegal parents. Part II considers the cases that have rejected the attempts by members of alternative families to use these theories to obtain this protection. Part III discusses the barriers to political power that will make it extremely difficult and time-consuming to achieve legislative change in these areas, and argues that the courts should use the means available to them currently to protect these nonlegal parents and their children while the …

Coalescing Communities, Discourses And Practices: Synergies In The Anti-Subordination Project, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

No abstract provided.

“The Little Project:” From Alternative Families To Domestic Partnerships To Same-Sex Marriage, Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox

No abstract provided.

Application For Leave To File Brief And Brief Of Amici Curiae Award-Winning California Teachers, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Fred T. Korematsu Center For Law & Equality, And American Association Of University Professors In Support Of Appellants, Fred T. Korematsu Center For Law And Equality, Attorneys For Amicus Curiae

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

Vergara v. California

Overruling The Jury: Duncan V. Gmc And Appellate Treatment Of Hostile Work Environment Judgments, Dara Purvis

Dara Purvis

In 2002, the Eighth Circuit reversed a one million dollar jury award to the plaintiff in a sexual harassment suit against General Motors Corporation. This reversal demonstrates the danger of appellate review of such verdicts, limiting sexual harassment verdicts to the lowest common denominator in that circuit.

Disparaging Trademarks: Who Matters, Jasmine Abdel-Khalik

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

For more than a century, non-majority groups have protested the use of trademarks comprised of or containing terms referencing the group—albeit for various reasons. Under the 1946 Lanham Act, Congress added a prohibition against registering disparaging trademarks, which could offer protection to non-majority groups targeted by the use of trademarks offensive to members of the group. The prohibition remained relatively unclear, however, and rarely applied in that context until a group of Native Americans petitioned to cancel the Washington NFL team’s trademarks as either scandalous, offensive to the general population, or disparaging, offensive to the referenced group. In clarifying the …

There Are No Racists Here: The Rise Of Racial Extremism, When No One Is Racist, Jeannine Bell

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

At first glance hate murders appear wholly anachronistic in post-racial America. This Article suggests otherwise. The Article begins by analyzing the periodic expansions of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the protection for racist expression in First Amendment doctrine. The Article then contextualizes the case law by providing evidence of how the First Amendment works on the ground in two separate areas —the enforcement of hate crime law and on university campuses that enact speech codes. In these areas, those using racist expression receive full protection for their beliefs. Part III describes social spaces—social media and employment where slurs and epithets …

Functionally Suspect: Reconceptualizing "Race" As A Suspect Classification, Lauren Sudeall Lucas

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

In the context of equal protection doctrine, race has become untethered from the criteria underlying its demarcation as a classification warranting heightened scrutiny. As a result, it is no longer an effective vehicle for challenging the existing social and political order; instead, its primary purpose under current doctrine is to signal the presence of an impermissible basis for differential treatment. This Symposium Article suggests that, to more effectively serve its underlying normative goals, equal protection should prohibit not discrimination based on race per se, but government actions that implicate the concerns leading to race’s designation as a suspect classification. For …