Sexuality and the Law Commons^™

The Missing Word In Lawrence V. Texas, Ruthann Robson

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article critiques the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas for omitting a crucial acknowledgment: an apology for the harm caused by its previous ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick. While Lawrence overturned the unconstitutional sodomy law, the Court's opinion neglected to address the profound suffering and discrimination endured by LGBTQ+ individuals due to *Bowers*. The author argues that an apology is essential to acknowledge the pain inflicted and to provide closure for those affected.

A Prisoner's Right To Transsexual Therapies: A Look At Brooks V. Berg, Linda D. Chin

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the legal and ethical implications of providing medical treatment, particularly gender reassignment surgery (GRS), to transgender prisoners under the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. It argues that while courts have recognized the necessity of addressing gender dysphoria, the financial and logistical challenges of providing such treatments raise concerns about equity and resource allocation. The ruling in Brooks v. Berg highlights the tension between constitutional rights and the practical limitations of prison systems in meeting these needs.

It's Not All In My Head: The Harm Of Rape And The Prison Litigation Reform Act, Deborah M. Golden

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA)'s requirement of a physical injury for prisoners to seek damages for mental or emotional harm creates a significant barrier for rape victims, particularly women, in pursuing justice. The author advocates for amending the PLRA to explicitly recognize rape as a compensable injury, ensuring that victims can seek redress without unnecessary procedural hurdles.

Challenging Dissent: The Ontology And Logic Of Lawrence V. Texas, Jami Weinstein, Tobyn Demarco

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article examines the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which invalidated a Texas antisodomy statute criminalizing homosexual conduct. The Court held that the statute failed rational basis review and rejected the promotion of majoritarian sexual morality as a legitimate state interest. The decision reflects a broader recognition of the fundamental right to make autonomous, private, consensual, adult sexual choices. The analysis critiques Justice Scalia's dissent, arguing that his fears about the end of morals legislation are unfounded and that laws based solely on moral disapproval lack a rational basis.

Domesticating Lawrence, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (Cases): Gender Stereotypes And Sexual Harassment Since The Passage Of Title Vii, Miriam A. Cherry

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article, which is part of a symposium on the 40th Anniversary of Title VII appearing in the Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal, evaluates the progress of women in the workforce by critically analyzing the musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." Written in the early 1960s and made into a 1967 movie, How to Succeed follows the adventures of J. Pierrepont Finch, a window washer who, with the aid of a sarcastic self-help book, schemes his way up the corporate ladder. It also includes the sexual exploits of the exclusively male executive corps among the female …

Sex And (Sexed By) The State, Taylor Flynn

Media Presence

This Article discusses how the law not only tries to discipline the body into traditional sex roles, but it also has the power to declare you to be a particular legal sex, even over your objection. The majority of jurisdictions follow the orthodoxy of sex as "genitalia-at-birth." Under this view, a male to female transgender woman (who, for example, has undergone surgery and is anatomically indistinguishable from someone born with female genitalia) is deemed in the majority of states to be legally male. In a handful of more progressive states, the law looks predominantly--although unfortunately, not exclusively--at an individual's gender …

Civil Partnership In The U.K. – Some International Problems, Barry Crown

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Langan V. St. Vincent’S Hospital, Emily Stein

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brief, E. Brandon Bailey

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

Appellants contend that the Fourteenth Amendment protects marriage as a fundamental right of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation. Therefore, appellants contend that Section 411, under which the clerk of Declaration County circuit court acted in denying appellants' request for a marriage license, must be unconstitutional. Appellants predicate their contentions on Lawrence v. Texas. Unfortunately for appellants, the holdings of Lawrence are too weak a wind to shift the ship of marriage from its historical and legal course. To understand why Lawrence is inadequate for the purpose for which appellants invoke it, the Court must look to the right of …

Brief, Josh Laws

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

Issue One: Whether Section 411 is constitutional under Lawrence v. Texas?, Issue Two: Whether the right to marry is a fundamental right, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, that must be extended to all persons regardless of sexual orientation?

The Legally Queer Child, Bruce Macdougall

All Faculty Publications

This article explores the various presumptions and arguments of Canadian courts in largely denying queer children a legal presence. An analysis of the intersection of homosexuality and children is explored with a view to arguing that legally, queer children deserve a voice. The author begins by outlining the development of the legal conceptualization of the "child". This conceptualization led to the notion of the child as innocent, and thus in need of protection. In comparison, homosexuals came to be characterized as "aberrant" and "predatory". Protecting children from homosexuals then became a simple step of logic, which ultimately led to the …

The Free Speech Coalition & Adult Entertainment: An Inside View Of The Adult Entertainment Industry, Its Leading Advocate & The First Amendment, Clay Calvert, Robert Richards

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Plight Of Same-Sex Harassment Victims Under Title Vii: Why Sexual Orientation Discrimination Should Be Recognized As A Form Of Sex Stereotyping, Sonya K. Parrish

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Making Marriage Matter Less: The Ali Domestic Partner Principles Are One Step In The Right Direction, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Introducing Lawrence V. Texas: Some Background And A Glimpse Of The Future, Edward Stein

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article explores the landmark Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which overturned the Court's earlier decision in Bowers v. Hardwick and struck down a Texas sodomy law criminalizing consensual same-sex intimacy. The ruling significantly advanced LGBTQ+ rights by affirming privacy rights under the Due Process Clause and laying groundwork for future equal protection challenges to laws discriminating based on sexual orientation. The decision's implications extend beyond privacy rights, influencing debates on same-sex marriage, adoption, and other areas of sexual orientation discrimination.

Lawrence And Garner: The Love (Or At Least Sexual Attraction) That Finally Dared Speak Its Name, Paris R. Baldacci

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article examines the legal evolution from *Bowers v. Hardwick* to Lawrence v. Texas, highlighting how the latter marked a pivotal shift in recognizing LGBTQ+ rights by emphasizing personal autonomy and dignity. It underscores the significance of narrative strategies in shaping judicial decisions, particularly in *Lawrence*, where the plaintiffs' personal stories influenced the Court's ruling.

The Unknown Past Of Lawrence V. Texas, Dale Carpenter

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article is an attempt to fill in some of the gaps in the public's knowledge of the case Lawrence v. Texas. Much of the rich post-arrest history of the case has been ignored. But for the courage, insight, and initiative of three men in particular, the arrest might have been another forgotten episode in what the author calls the under history of the Texas sodomy law, the history not told in appellate opinions or in most other accounts.

Section II reviews the "somewhat known" past, tracing the evolution of the Texas sodomy law from a statute so facially …

Is Lawrence Libertarian?, Dale Carpenter

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas is no doubt a shock to those pursuing an antihomosexual agenda. To most Americans, however, the decision is less an ipse dixit announcing radical social change than it is a belated recognition of what they had already learned about the humanity and dignity of gay people. Rather than radically changing constitutional principle, the Court has corrected its own erroneous understanding of the facts that underlay its application of constitutional principle in the past. Rather than leading the nation, the Court has caught up to it.

Part I of this essay lays out …

Sexual Tensions Of Post-Empire, Katherine M. Franke

Faculty Scholarship

In this essay Katherine Franke examines two contemporary cites in which state efforts to eradicate the traces of empire and to resurrect an authentic post-colonial nation have produced sexual subjects that serve as a kind of existential residue and reminder of a demonized colonial past and absence. Looking first at post-colonial Zimbabwe, Franke argues that President Mugabe's aggressively homophobic policies have played a key role in fortifying his leadership as authentically African and post-colonial.

Franke then turns to current efforts by the Mubarak government in Egypt to publically prosecute men for having sex with men. The Mubarak government has used …

Divorcing Marriage From Procreation – Goodridge V. Department Of Public Health Case, Jamal Greene

Faculty Scholarship

Public debate about same-sex marriage has spectacularly intensified in the wake of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. But amid the twisted faces, shouts, and murmurs surrounding that decision, a bit of old-fashioned common-lawmaking has been lost. Some have criticized the Goodridge court for its apparently result-oriented approach to the question of whether, consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, the commonwealth may deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Others have defended the decision, both on the court's own rational basis terms and on other grounds, including sex discrimination and substantive due process. This …

Queering Legal Education: A Project Of Theoretical Discovery, Kim Brooks, Debra Parkes

All Faculty Publications

The article has two parts. Part II discusses the materials we reviewed to inform the development of a queer legal pedagogy. In particular, it examines the categories of queer legal scholarship and highlights the contributions of other outsider scholars to legal education debates. Early in our research, we found limited material on queer legal pedagogy, and we discovered nothing that posited a theoretical approach. We did, however, find rich resources written by other outsiders to law from which some design principles for queer legal pedagogy might be drawn. We should note at the outset that our goal in this Part …

Past And Present Proposed Amendments To The United States Constitution Regarding Marriage, Edward D. Stein

Articles

Proposals to amend the Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages were recently actively discussed in the U.S. Senate and are likely to receive attention in the House before the year's end. This article situates arguments for these proposals within the history of attempts to amend the Constitution related to marriage by providing the first detailed, synthetic analysis of such previously proposed amendments. This examination reveals 133 previously proposed amendments to the Constitution relating to marriage, consisting primarily of proposals to prohibit interracial marriage, proposals to prohibit polygamy, and proposals to empower Congress to make uniform laws concerning marriage and divorce. By …

Four Arguments Against A Marriage Amendment That Even An Opponent Of Gay Marriage Should Accept, Dale Carpenter

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

In this article, the author argues against a federal constitutional amendment preventing states from recognizing same-sex marriages. As of now, a nationwide policy debate is underway on the merits of providing full marital recognition to gay couples. That debate is still in its infancy and is proceeding in a variety of ways, with divergent policy choices in the states. It should not be cut short by the extraordinary mechanism of a constitutional amendment that would substantially delay or permanently foreclose what may turn out to be a valuable social reform.

To summarize, the four main points the author makes are: …

Women In The Workplace: Sexual Discrimination In Japan, Kelly Barrett

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Sexual Orientation And The Paradox Of Heightened Scrutiny, Nan D. Hunter

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court performed a double move, creating a dramatic discursive moment: it both decriminalized consensual homosexual relations between adults, and, simultaneously, authorized a new regime of heightened regulation of homosexuality. How that happened and what we can expect next are the subjects of this essay.

Living With Lawrence, Nan D. Hunter

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article will proceed in three steps. First, I will examine the Court's treatment of liberty. I see Lawrence as marking the emergence of a new approach to substantive due process analysis, one that has been simmering in the concurring opinions of Justices Souter, Stevens, and Kennedy for the last decade. These three Justices apparently now have a majority for extending meaningful constitutional protection to liberty interests without denominating them as fundamental rights. They also appear to be jettisoning, at least prospectively, a special category for privacy rights. Second, I will turn my attention to the ramifications of Lawrence's equality …

Monogamy's Law: Compulsory Monogamy And Polyamorous Existence, Elizabeth F. Emens

Faculty Scholarship

Right now, marriage and monogamy feature prominently on the public stage. Efforts to lift prohibitions on same-sex marriage in this country and abroad have inspired people on all sides of the political spectrum to speak about the virtues of monogamy's core institution and to express views on who should be included within it. The focus of this article is different. Like an "unmannerly wedding guest," this article invites the reader to pause amidst the whirlwind of marriage talk and to think critically about monogamy and its alternatives.

Homophobia And The “Matthew Shepard Effect” In Lawrence V. Texas, Kris Franklin

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Foreword To Legalizing Gay Marriage, David L. Chambers

Other Publications

The significance and timeliness of Michael Mello’s book was brought home to me recently when I participated in a conference on same-sex marriage at Brigham Young University Law School in Provo, Utah. Nearly everyone in the audience opposed permitting two men or two women to marry each other. Many favored an amendment to the United States Constitution to prevent any state from permitting same-sex couples to marry. Most regretted the decision of the United States Supreme Court in June 2004 holding sodomy laws unconstitutional. To them, the institution of marriage was under siege. The welfare of unborn children was at …