Sexuality and the Law Commons^™

Back To The Future: How Illinois' Legalization Of Same-Sex Relationships Retroactively Affects Marital Property Rights, Eric J. Shinabarger

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Until 2011, Illinois viewed same-sex relationships as “against public policy” and refused to recognize any same-sex civil union or marriage. However, many Illinois residents traveled to progressive jurisdictions in order to enter into legal samesex relationships. Afterwards, they returned to their lives in Illinois and lived together as married couples despite Illinois’ lack of recognition.

When Illinois legalized same-sex civil unions in 2011 and same-sex marriages in 2014, it immediately flipped a switch and began retroactively recognizing same-sex relationships entered into in other jurisdictions. While this prevents same-sex couples from being forced to jump through hoops to re-legalize their relationships, …

Marital Contracting In A Post-Windsor World, Martha M. Ertman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Conflict Of Laws Aspects In Same-Sex Relationships In Africa: A Comparative Study, Solomon Frimpong Amoateng

LLM Theses

Same-sex relationships will likely be in violation of the laws of most African countries. In Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, a same-sex relationship is either explicitly prohibited or there is legislation which can be interpreted to prohibit the union. However, the growing trend of the institutionalization of same-sex marriage around the world means that even countries that do not domestically recognize same-sex relationships may be confronted with the challenge of dealing with it in a conflict of laws context. The discussion shows that the strict application of the rule of non-recognition, where the court gives no legal effect to a foreign …

The Civil Rights Approach To Campus Sexual Violence, Nancy Chi Cantalupo

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Blueprint For Respect: Creating An Affirming Environment In The Courts For The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Communites , Paula J. Hepner

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Excusing Murder? Conservative Jurors’ Acceptance Of The Gay Panic Defense, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Jessica Salerno, Bette L. Bottoms, B. L. Harrington, Dave Kemner

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We conducted a simulated trial study to investigate the effectiveness of a “gay-panic” provocation defense as a function of jurors’ political orientation. Mock jurors read about a murder case in which a male defendant claimed a victim provoked the killing by starting a fight, which either included or did not include the male victim making an unwanted sexual advance that triggered a state of panic in the defendant. Conservative jurors were significantly less punitive when the defendant claimed to have acted out of gay panic as compared to when this element was not part of the defense. In contrast, liberal …

The Potential Impact Of Rape Culture On Juror Decision Making: Implications For Wrongful Acquittals In Sexual Assault Trials., Meagen M. Hildebrand, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Feminist writers contend that Americans live in a culture that supports sexualized aggression and violence against women. This “rape culture” is reflected in our society by the pervasive endorsement of rape myths and sexual objectification of women, both of which are legitimized by everyday media. One potential consequence of living in a rape culture is that individuals may themselves come to endorse rape myths and sexually objectify women, and, in turn, perceive certain forms of sexual violence against women as defensible. This is concerning considering the significant role that laypeople play in administering justice in sexual assault cases, but research …

The Online Sex Sting, Michael Cryan

Undergraduate Review

The Youth Internet Safety Surveys are indicative of a small subset of minors who have had contact with sexual offenders in person. Internet sex stings serve to target these adults through the use of police deception, but their use has been on the decline. Sexual offenders are a heterogeneous group; laws often mistakenly lump these various members together. This paper discusses different sources that can take responsible action to prevent online predators from reaching minors and the issue of vigilantism against offenders. Our current laws on sexual predators do not reflect the deeper, more prevalent issue of acquaintance rape.

The 'New' Law Applicable To Lgbti International Civil Servants In The U.N. System, Daniele Gallo

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Amending Rape Shield Laws: Outdated Statutes Fail To Protect Victims On Social Media, 48 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1087 (2015), Sydney Janzen

UIC Law Review

This Comment will first discuss the discoverability and admissibility of social media evidence in criminal and/or civil sexual assault cases. Section II(A) provides a broad overview of both federal and state rape shield laws, including the legislative policies behind their enactments, as well as the modern expansion of social media in the context of the legal system. Section II(B) will address the modern utility of social media in the context of the legal system. Section III first analyzes how courts look at discoverability and admissibility of social media evidence generally, and then focuses on sexual assault cases specifically. Further, Section …

Deboer V. Snyder: A Case Study In Litigation And Social Reform, Wyatt Fore

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

On April 28, 2015, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for four cases from the Sixth Circuit addressing the constitutionality of state bans on same-sex marriage. This Note examines DeBoer v. Snyder, the Michigan marriage case, with the goal of providing litigators and scholars the proper context for our current historical moment in which (1) the legal status of LGBT people; and (2) the conventional wisdom about the role of impact litigation in social reform movements are rapidly evolving.

Substantive Due Process As A Two-Way Street: How The Court Can Reconcile Same-Sex Marriage And Religious Liberty, Mark L. Rienzi

Scholarly Articles

Last month, the potential conflict between same-sex marriage and religious liberty prompted death threats, arson threats, and the temporary closure of a small-town pizzeria in Indiana. The restaurant’s owner had admitted to a reporter that she could not cater a hypothetical same-sex wedding because of her religious beliefs (even though she otherwise serves gay customers in her restaurant). Threatened with violence over her unpopular religious belief, the owner was forced to close the restaurant, uncertain if she could ever reopen.

Leading up to oral argument in the same-sex marriage cases, it was reasonable to wonder whether the Indiana episode was …

Concord With Which Other Families: Marriage Equality, Family Demographics, And Race, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

The “Social Magic” Of Merit: Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The English And Welsh Legal Profession, Hilary Sommerlad

Fordham Law Review

The discourse of merit is central to the “boundary” practices deployed by the white male elite of the English legal profession to exclude outsiders. The official discourse of government and regulatory body reports presents merit as an objectively verifiable and quantifiable property, synonymous with “excellence,” the salience of which in the recruitment process is indicative of the modernization of the profession. In this form it is mobilized to deflect criticism of the slow progress toward diversity. Critical interrogation of the discourse of merit reveals that it operates rather differently as a key structuring principle of the profession. The alternative meaning …

Naming Men As Men In Corporate Legal Practice: Gender And The Idea Of “Virtually 24/7 Commitment” In Law, Richard Collier

Fordham Law Review

This Article seeks to reframe and turn the conversation about gender equity in the legal profession on its head, taking up Hannah Brenner’s recent call to reconceptualize problems and rethink solutions around gender equity in the profession. It does so by moving beyond the frame of the retention of women and exploring selected aspects of the gendered practices of men in relation to this notion of the ideal legal professional in large transnational “city” law firms. The Article traces how particular ideas about men and gender are, on closer examination, implicated in a broader recasting of lawyer professionalism within the …

The Influence Of A Juvenile's Abuse History On Support For Sex Offender Registration, Cynthia J. Najdowski, M. C. Stevenson, J. M. Salerno, T. R. A. Wiley, B. L. Bottoms, K. M. Farnum

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We investigated whether and how a juvenile’s history of experiencing sexual abuse affects public perceptions of juvenile sex offenders in a series of 5 studies. When asked about juvenile sex offenders in an abstract manner (Studies 1 and 2), the more participants (community members and undergraduates) believed that a history of being sexually abused as a child causes later sexually abusive behavior, the less likely they were to support sex offender registration for juveniles. Yet when participants considered specific sexual offenses, a juvenile’s history of sexual abuse was not considered to be a mitigating factor. This was true when participants …

Certiorari And The Marriage Equality Cases, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Marriage equality has come to much of the nation. Over 2014, many district court rulings invalidated state proscriptions on same- sex marriage, while four appeals courts upheld these decisions. However, the Sixth Circuit reversed district judgments which struck down bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Because that appellate opinion created a patchwork of differing legal regimes across the country, this Paper urges the Supreme Court to clarify marriage equality by reviewing that determination this Term.

Marriage Equality Comes To Virginia, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this article chronicles marriage equality's rise and development nationally. It ascertains that challenges, which fos- tered the invalidation of marriage prohibitions that essentially govern nearly all jurisdictions, including Virginia, have triggered some controversy. Part II scrutinizes Judge Wright Allen's resolu- tion of the Virginia litigation and the United States Court of Ap- peals for the Fourth Circuit determination, which affirmed her ruling. This portion finds that the district jurist comprehensively assessed the relevant legal and factual issues when striking down the proscription while the Fourth Circuit appropriately upheld her opinion. Part III then derives lessons from the …

Ending Bacha Bazi: Boy Sex Slavery And The Responsibility To Protect Doctrine, 25 Ind. Int'l. & Comp. L. Rev. 63 (2015), Samuel Vincent Jones

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

This essay challenges the conventional wisdom that prohibitions against government-condoned child-sex slavery have attained non- derogable, peremptory status under international law. Much to the utter shock of field investigators and human rights experts, boy sex slavery has evolved into a constitutive and central feature of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Afghanistan) because of a customary practice commonly referred to as bacha bazi.

Certiorari And The Marriage Equality Cases, Carl Tobias

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Marriage equality has come to much of the nation. Over 2014, many district court rulings invalidated state proscriptions on same- sex marriage, while four appeals courts upheld these decisions. However, the Sixth Circuit reversed district judgments which struck down bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Because that appellate opinion created a patchwork of differing legal regimes across the country, this Paper urges the Supreme Court to clarify marriage equality by reviewing that determination this Term.