Sexuality and the Law Commons^™

The Ethics Of Narrative, Muneer I. Ahmad

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Narrative, Muneer I. Ahmad

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

The Complex Uses Of Sexual Orientation In Criminal Court, Abbe Smith

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Times may or may not be changing for gay people in the criminal justice system--and for the import of sexual orientation in criminal law. It depends on the nature of the case and, more importantly, exactly whose sexual orientation we are talking about.

Signs of positive change include the recent high profile Matthew Shepard and Diane Whipple cases, in which gay and lesbian homicide victims were mourned not only by the gay community, but also by the entire country. It was no doubt helpful that both Shepard and Whipple presented very appealing images of gay people: each was young, attractive, …

Protecting Plaintiffs' Sexual Pasts: Coping With Preconceptions Through Discretion, Jane H. Aiken

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Part I of this Article traces the development of the civil application of Rule 412, the so-called “Rape Shield Rule”. Part II analyzes the inconsistencies within the cases decided under the new civil rule and links those inconsistencies to the language of the rule. It identifies the trends within the cases about what constitutes probative value for purposes of the rule and how courts assess prejudice. The Article concludes that rules of evidence designed to remedy bias of fact finders should not be cast as discretionary. Many of the problems that arise in the interpretation of Rule 412 could be …

Lesbigay Identity As Commodity, David Skover, Kellye Testy

Faculty Articles

In America's popular culture, LesBiGay identities abound. In its political culture, however, they emerge more tentatively. The commercial and entertainment industries increasingly commodify and celebrate LesBiGay identities. The courts and legislatures generally discount and condemn them. Thus, there is a deep dissonance between the validation of LesBiGay identities in the economic marketplace of items and ideas, and their devaluation in the legal arena of rights and remedies. This piece explores the deep dissonance that exists today between the validation of American LesBiGays in the commercial marketplace and their devaluation in political and legal arenas, and questions the failure of legal …

Marriage And Belonging, Ann Laquer Estin

Michigan Law Review

Marriage is a quintessentially private institution. Justice Douglas put the point this way in 1965, writing for the Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut: "We deal with a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights - older than our political parties, older than our school system. Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring, and intimate to the degree of being sacred. It is an association that promotes a way of life, not causes; a harmony in living, not political faiths; a bilateral loyalty, not commercial or social projects. Yet it is an association …

A Respectful Distance: Appellate Courts Consider Religious Motivation Of Public Figures In Homosexual Equality Discourse - The Cases Of Chamberlain And Trinity Western University [Case Comment], Bruce Macdougall

All Faculty Publications

In the decisions of the B.C. Court of Appeal in Chamberlain v. Surrey School District No. 36 (2000) and the Supreme Court of Canada in Trinity Western University v. College of Teachers (2001), the courts allowed religiously-based "moral positions" held by would-be teachers and public officials to trump the interests of equal rights protection, in particular that of gays and lesbians. The author examines the ways in which the religious arguments were made (and accepted) in order to achieve this result. The author asserts that the decisions raise troubling questions about the extent to which courts are really willing to …

Illegalized Sexual Dissent: Sexualities And Nationalisms, Katherine M. Franke

Faculty Scholarship

In this essay, Katherine Franke explores how dissent becomes a different, and in some ways more interesting, phenomenon when the dissenter emerges not from outside the political horizon drawn by the state, but rather from within it, and as an integral part of the state's project of governance. In these cases, the state calls up a set of subjects who are in some fundamental sense positioned to gain state, if not public, disfavor. These subjects are then isolated, excised or otherwise managed in ways that further state interests. Three cases are discussed in which the production of sexual outlaws proves …

On Making Anti-Essentialist And Social Constructionist Arguments In Courts, Suzanne B. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

One of my most intense disagreements with another lawyer during nearly a decade of lesbian and gay rights litigation concerned social constructionism. The lawyer (a law professor, if truth be told) wanted to argue in an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court that sexual orientation, like race, was a social constructed category. He reasoned that since the Court had condemned race discrimination even while recognizing the "socio-political, rather than biological" nature of race, it would similarly be willing to invalidate a measure discriminating against lesbians, gay men and bisexuals, even while recognizing the socially constructed nature of sexual …

The Supreme Court's Latest Resolution Of The Conflict Between Freedom Of Association And Public Accomodations Laws: Boy Scouts Of America V. Dale And Its Implications In And Out Of The Courtroom, Daniel E. Mcguire

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Lesbigay Identity As Commodity, David M. Skover, Kellye Y. Testy

Articles

This Essay explores the deep dissonance that exists today between the validation of American LesBiGays in the commercial marketplace and their devaluation in political and legal arenas, and questions the failure of legal scholars and civil rights activists to account meaningfully for this dissonance in their theories and practices. I

n America's popular culture, LesBiGay identities abound. In its political culture, however, they emerge more tentatively. The commercial and entertainment industries increasingly commodify and celebrate LesBiGay identities. The courts and legislatures generally discount and condemn them. Thus, there is a deep dissonance between the validation of LesBiGay identities in the …

Reasonable Person Versus Reasonable Woman: Does It Matter? , Elizabeth L. Shoenfelt, Allison E. Maue, Joanne Nelson

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Symposium: Homophobia In The Halls Of Justice: Sexual Orientation Bias And Its Implications Within The Legal System, Pamela D. Bridgewater, Brenda V. Smith

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Dissecting Axes Of Subordination: The Need For A Structural Analysis, Darren Lenard Hutchinson

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Discovering And Addressing Sexual Orientation Bias In Arizona's Legal System, Amelia Craig Cramer

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Obstacle Courts: Results Of Two Studies On Sexual Orientation Fairness In The California Courts, Todd Brower

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Sexual Orientation Bias: The Substantive Limits Of Legal Ethics Rules, William C. Duncan

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

The Complex Uses Of Sexual Orientation In Criminal Court, Abbe Smith

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Symposium: Homophobia In The Halls Of Justice: Sexual Orientation Bias And Its Implications Within The Legal System, Pamela D. Bridgewater, Brenda V. Smith

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Dissecting Axes Of Subordination: The Need For A Structural Analysis, Darren Lenard Hutchinson

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Obstacle Courts: Results Of Two Studies On Sexual Orientation Fairness In The California Courts, Todd Brower

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Adjudication According To Codes Of Judicial Conduct, Jennifer Gerarda Brown

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

The Complex Uses Of Sexual Orientation In Criminal Court, Abbe Smith

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Sex Discrimination Argument For Lesbian And Gay Rights, Edward D. Stein

Articles

The sex discrimination argument for lesbian and gay rights analyzes laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in terms of sex discrimination. For example, sodomy laws that prohibit only same-sex sexual activities are analyzed as discriminating on the basis of sex because they prohibit women from doing something men are permitted to do, that is, have sex with women. This argument has been championed by some scholars and litigators, and it has persuaded some judges. Edward Stein shows that there are sociological, theoretical, moral, and practical problems facing the sex discrimination argument. He suggests that there are better …