Law Commons^™

Identity Documents For Transgender Texans: A Proposal For A Uniform System For Correcting Gender Markers In Texas, Lydia R. Harris

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Texas’s lack of a codified gender correction process is unjust, illegal, and against public policy. This comment highlights the injustice faced by transgender Texans without gender concordant identity documents. These injustices include discrimination based on gender stereotypes, violation of the transgender individual’s right to privacy, and violations of public policy. This comment explores possible solutions to the injustices faced by transgender Texans due to the lack of a codified uniform way to correct gender markers in Texas modeled on other jurisdictions’ approaches to this problem.

First, this comment traces the history of the recognition of transgender people and transgender rights …

Gender In The Context Of Same-Sex Divorce And Relationship Dissolution, Suzanne A. Kim, Edward Stein

Faculty Articles

This article identifies ways that judges, lawyers, researchers, and policy makers may attend to the role of gender and gender dynamics facing same-sex couples upon divorce or other relationship dissolution. When same-sex couples marry, the legal system and society at large may project conceptions of gender onto same-sex couples, often in a manner that conflicts with couples’ intentions and practices. Gender and gender dynamics may affect the bases for dissolution, the financial aspects of dissolution, and the determination of child custody. The article also suggests directions for future research on the impact of gender on the dissolution of same-sex relationships.

Courage, Postimmunity Politics, And The Regulation Of The Queer Subject, Chantal Nadeau

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

In this paper, I argue that courage is invoked in contemporary political discourses in such a way as to regulate queer legal subjectivities. That is, the discourses of courage re-articulate the social, legal, and political relations that define and restrict the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens. Drawing on Roberto Esposito's theoretical elaboration of the concept of immunity, I remap the legal and political dynamics through which nations incorporate LGBT citizens into the polity. I discuss how the regulation of gay rights in a growing number of democracies in Europe, the Americas, and South Africa has contributed …

Gender And Non-Normative Sex In Sub-Saharan Africa, Johanna Bond

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article argues for the adoption of a gender-based framework to supplement rights promotion strategies and campaigns based on LGBTI identity. The Article draws upon feminist, queer, and trans theory to develop an expansive understanding of gender within international human rights law. An analysis incorporating such theory will catalyze more systematic promotion of LGBTI rights. Although the approach is applicable across a variety of geographic contexts, this Article uses sub-Saharan Africa as an illustrative case study. A focus on gender rights as supplementary to and interrelated with LGBTI rights offers both conceptual and pragmatic benefits in the struggle to promote …

Sex And The Shari’A: Defining Gender Norms And Sexual Deviancy In Shi’I Islam, Haider Ala Hamoudi

Articles

This paper demonstrates that modern authoritative jurists working within the Shi’i tradition have developed their rules respecting sex regulation to serve three primary commitments. The first of these is that there is an intense and near debilitating desire on the part of human beings generally, though mostly men, for a great deal of sex. This desire must be satisfied, but it also must be tightly controlled. This is because of the second commitment, which is that excessive licentiousness is a form of secular distraction from a believer’s central obligation to worship God. Finally, and perhaps the most interesting, is the …

A Quest For Acceptance: The Real Id Act And The Need For Comprehensive Gender Recognition Legislation In The United States, Jason Allen

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article maintains that the Real ID Act highlights the need for U.S. federal gender recognition legislation in the mold of the GRA. Part II offers background into the psychology of transgender people, explaining how the medical community views and treats this "condition." Part III illustrates the fundamental value of gender recognition rights and examines the inadequacy of U.S. statutory and case law. This discussion then traces the evolution of the GRA in the United Kingdom as the culmination of a mandate from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Part IV argues that the United States should adopt a …

"Please Write 'E' In This Box" Toward Self-Identification And Recognition Of A Third Gender: Approaches In The United States And India, Jennifer Rellis

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Part I of this Article defines intersexuality and highlights the legal and societal complications that occur when the concept of the fixed male-female gender binary is challenged. Part II describes the unique role of the hijras in India, who are both revered and discriminated against, and suggests that India is beginning to legally recognize a third gender through the grassroots advocacy of the hijras. Part III contrasts the experience of intersexed individuals in the United States by describing the current protocol to deal with the "medical emergency" of the birth of an intersexed child. This section forecasts legal issues facing …