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Full-Text Articles in Law
Fucking With Dignity: Public Sex, Queer Intimate Kinship, And How The Aids Epidemic Bathhouse Closures Constituted A Dignity Taking, Stephen M. Engel, Timothy S. Lyle
Fucking With Dignity: Public Sex, Queer Intimate Kinship, And How The Aids Epidemic Bathhouse Closures Constituted A Dignity Taking, Stephen M. Engel, Timothy S. Lyle
Chicago-Kent Law Review
In the name of public health, authorities in San Francisco and New York City pursued the closure of gay bathhouses in 1984 and 1985, respectively. We challenge the dominant historical narrative that justified these closings, and through that challenge, we argue that these closures constituted a dignity taking against gay and queer-identified men. Bathhouses were not simply dens of impersonal anonymous sex. They were critical sites of community development and queer kinship. Many governing authorities neither considered the value of these institutions nor grappled with queer understandings of space, contact, intimacy, and belonging. The debates and the closures that followed …
Stages Of Constitutional Grief: Democratic Constitutionalism And The Marriage Revolution, Anthony Michael Kreis
Stages Of Constitutional Grief: Democratic Constitutionalism And The Marriage Revolution, Anthony Michael Kreis
All Faculty Scholarship
Do courts matter?Historically, many social movements have turned to the courts to help achieve sweeping social change. Because judicial institutions are supposed to be above the political fray, they are sometimes believed to be immune from ordinary political pressures that otherwise slow down progress. Substantial scholarship casts doubt on this romanticized ideal of courts. This Article posits a new, interactive theory of courts and social movements, under which judicial institutions can legitimize and fuel social movements, but outside actors are necessary to enhance the courts’ social reform efficacy. Under this theory, courts matter and can be agents of social change …
Presidential Legitimacy Through The Anti-Discrimination Lens, Catherine Y. Kim
Presidential Legitimacy Through The Anti-Discrimination Lens, Catherine Y. Kim
Chicago-Kent Law Review
The Obama administration’s deferred action programs granting temporary relief from deportation to undocumented immigrants have focused attention to questions regarding the legitimacy of presidential lawmaking. Immigration, though, is not the only context in which the president has exercised policymaking authority. This essay examines parallel instances of executive lawmaking in the anti-discrimination area. Presidential policies relating to workplace discrimination, environmental justice, and affirmative action share some of the key features troubling critics of deferred action yet have been spared from serious constitutional challenge. These examples underscore the unique challenges to assessing the validity of actions targeting traditionally disenfranchised groups—be they noncitizens, …
Immutability And Innateness Arguments About Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Rights, Edward Stein
Immutability And Innateness Arguments About Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Rights, Edward Stein
Chicago-Kent Law Review
A popular and intuitively plausible type of argument for the rights of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals is based on claims that sexual orientations are inborn and/or unchangeable. Many advocates of such rights view expressing doubts about the immutability and innateness of sexual orientation as tantamount to opposing gay rights. Legally, claims that sexual orientations are innate and/or immutable intersect with the so-called immutability factor in equal protection jurisprudence. This article considers the legal, ethical, and empirical support for arguments for LGB rights based on immutability and innateness. I raise a variety of problems for such arguments in various contexts, …
Who Am I And Who Do You Want Me To Be? Effectively Defining A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Social Group In Asylum Applications, Keith Southam
Chicago-Kent Law Review
Asylum law provides an area within immigration law that is unexpectedly friendly to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender persons. Persons who suffer persecution on account of "membership in a particular social group" are eligible to live and work in the United States. This encompasses lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender persons who suffer persecution. However, United States law does not clearly define applicable standards in this area. As a result, different adjudicators in the asylum process focus on different methodological approaches and sometimes inject bias into the process. In addition, because the terms "lesbian," "gay," "bisexual," and "transgender" are …
Artificial Insemination And The Presumption Of Parenthood: Traditional Foundations And Modern Applications For Lesbian Mothers, William M. Lopez
Artificial Insemination And The Presumption Of Parenthood: Traditional Foundations And Modern Applications For Lesbian Mothers, William M. Lopez
Chicago-Kent Law Review
This note traces the history of the presumption of parenthood and applies the traditional rationales underlying the presumption to support its application to married lesbian couples. Part I discusses the formation of the presumption in England and recognizes that the presumption was created for three important reasons: to protect the child; to protect the public purse; and to protect the biological family. Part II discusses state laws on artificial insemination and dissects the basic requirements for both same-sex and opposite-sex parents. This Part then applies the presumption's traditional rationales to lesbian couples having children, arguing that the same presumption should …