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Sexuality and the Law

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Religious liberty

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Columbia Law School Think Tank Files Amicus Brief In Scotus Case, Masterpiece Cakeshop V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Public Rights/Private Conscience Project Oct 2017

Columbia Law School Think Tank Files Amicus Brief In Scotus Case, Masterpiece Cakeshop V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Public Rights/Private Conscience Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Columbia Law School’s Public Rights/Private Conscience Project and Muslim Advocates filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission on behalf of a coalition of 15 diverse civil rights and faith organizations. At issue in Masterpiece Cakeshop is whether the owners of a Colorado public establishment may, due to their own private religious beliefs, refuse service to individuals because of their sexual orientation.


Eeoc Proposed Guidance Shows We Can Protect Religious Freedom & Lgbtq Rights, Public Rights/Private Conscience Project Mar 2017

Eeoc Proposed Guidance Shows We Can Protect Religious Freedom & Lgbtq Rights, Public Rights/Private Conscience Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

While the President and Congress consider acts to expand religious exemptions at the expense of LGBTQ and other rights, a proposed federal regulation demonstrates that we can — and should — protect both religious and LGBTQ communities.


Amicus Brief To U.S. Supreme Court In Masterpiece Cakeshop V. Colorado Human Rights Commission, Katherine M. Franke, Elizabeth Reiner Platt Jan 2017

Amicus Brief To U.S. Supreme Court In Masterpiece Cakeshop V. Colorado Human Rights Commission, Katherine M. Franke, Elizabeth Reiner Platt

Faculty Scholarship

On October 30, 2017 the Public Rights/Private Conscience Project, a research initiative of the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School, filed a brief in Masterpiece Cakeshop. The brief was written in coordination with our colleagues at Muslim Advocates, on behalf of 15 religious minority groups and civil rights advocates. The brief argues that the broad interpretation urged by Masterpiece Cakeshop is bad for religious liberty itself – especially for religious minorities such as Muslims, Sikhs, and other minority religious groups. The Public Rights/Private Conscience Project's position is that the Court’s early religious liberty cases were …


Testimony On Pennsylvania Sb1306: No Additional Protections For Religious Freedom, Katherine M. Franke, Burton Caine, Lenore F. Carpenter, Eric A. Feldman, Thersa Glennon, Nancy J. Knauer, Jules Lobel, Wendell Pritchett, Dara E. Purvis, Brishen Rogers, Victor C. Romero, Kathryn M. Stanchi, Nancy A. Welsh Jan 2016

Testimony On Pennsylvania Sb1306: No Additional Protections For Religious Freedom, Katherine M. Franke, Burton Caine, Lenore F. Carpenter, Eric A. Feldman, Thersa Glennon, Nancy J. Knauer, Jules Lobel, Wendell Pritchett, Dara E. Purvis, Brishen Rogers, Victor C. Romero, Kathryn M. Stanchi, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

On behalf of the Public Rights/Private Conscience Project (PRPCP) at Columbia Law School I offer the following legal analysis of Senate Bill 1306. Overall, the current version of the bill promises to modernize Pennsylvania’s Human Relations Act by expanding antidiscrimination protections in employment to include sexual orientation and gender identity-based discrimination. Were the Pennsylvania legislature to pass SB 1306, the Commonwealth would join twenty-two states that include sexual orientation and nineteen states that include gender identity in their laws assuring equal employment opportunities for their citizens.


Testimony Regarding The First Amendment Defense Act (Fada), Katherine M. Franke, Elizabeth A. Sepper, Ariela Gross, Sylvia A. Law, Martin S. Flaherty, Suzanne B. Goldberg, Carol Sanger, J. Stephen Clark, Florens Wagman Roisman, Gregory Magarian, Caroline Mala Corbin, Nomi Stolzenberg, Carlos A. Ball, Aaron Ezra Waldman, Aziza Ahmed, Jennifer A. Drobac, Deborah Widiss, Arthur S. Leonard, Martha M. Ertman Jan 2016

Testimony Regarding The First Amendment Defense Act (Fada), Katherine M. Franke, Elizabeth A. Sepper, Ariela Gross, Sylvia A. Law, Martin S. Flaherty, Suzanne B. Goldberg, Carol Sanger, J. Stephen Clark, Florens Wagman Roisman, Gregory Magarian, Caroline Mala Corbin, Nomi Stolzenberg, Carlos A. Ball, Aaron Ezra Waldman, Aziza Ahmed, Jennifer A. Drobac, Deborah Widiss, Arthur S. Leonard, Martha M. Ertman

Faculty Scholarship

My testimony today is delivered on behalf of twenty leading legal scholars who have joined me in providing an in depth analysis of the meaning and likely effects of the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), were it to become law. We feel particularly compelled to provide testimony to this Committee because the first legislative finding set out in FADA declares that: “Leading legal scholars concur that conflicts between same-sex marriage and religious liberty are real and should be addressed through legislation.” As leading legal scholars we must correct this statement: we do not concur that conflicts between same-sex marriage and …


Columbia Law Professor Katherine Franke Creates Public Rights/Private Conscience Project, Columbia University Public Affairs Mar 2014

Columbia Law Professor Katherine Franke Creates Public Rights/Private Conscience Project, Columbia University Public Affairs

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

New York, March 24, 2014 – Katherine Franke, director of Columbia Law School’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law, announced today the launch of the Public Rights/Private Conscience project, a new think-tank created to address the increased use of religion-based exemptions from compliance with federal and state laws securing equality and sexual liberty.