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Sexuality and the Law

University of Washington School of Law

Journal

2005

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

You Can't Take It With You: Constitutional Consequences Of Interstate Gender-Identity Rulings, Julie A. Greenberg, Marybeth Herald Nov 2005

You Can't Take It With You: Constitutional Consequences Of Interstate Gender-Identity Rulings, Julie A. Greenberg, Marybeth Herald

Washington Law Review

Recent U.S. decisions establishing a person's legal sex have adopted a kaleidoscope of approaches that range from the procreative (a man must be able to fertilize ovum and beget offspring, while a woman must be able to produce ova and bear offspring), to the religious (gender is immutably fixed by our Creator at birth), to the scientific (gender itself is a fact that may be established by medical and other evidence). Under current laws and state court rulings, a male-to-female transsex person is legally a woman in approximately one-half of the states and legally a man in the other half. …


Does Sex Matter? Washington's Defense Of Marriage Act Under The Equal Rights Amendment Of The Washington State Constitution, Thomas C. Schroeder May 2005

Does Sex Matter? Washington's Defense Of Marriage Act Under The Equal Rights Amendment Of The Washington State Constitution, Thomas C. Schroeder

Washington Law Review

Washington State's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defines marriage as a civil contract between a male and a female and explicitly bans marriages between members of the same sex. Yet the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Washington State Constitution prohibits laws that classify by sex. In the three decades since the enactment of the ERA, the Washington State Supreme Court has recognized only two narrow exceptions to the ERA's ban of sex-based classifications: laws based on anatomical differences between the sexes and laws created to mandate equality between men and women. Whether the DOMA effects a sex-based classification and …