Russell K. Robinson The Supreme Court’s equal protection jurisprudence places people of color and LGBT people on segregated doctrinal paths heading in divergent directions. While equality is expanding for LGBT people, it is evaporating for people of color. Nearly 20 years ago, the Supreme Court decided Romer v. Evans, the first of a string […]
Posted in: Discrimination, Identity Politics, Marriage | Comments (11)
This week the British government introduced a bill into Parliament that would allow same-sex couples to marry. While the bill may signal progress on the issue of marriage equality in Britain, some details about the bill and the circumstances surrounding it are worth noting: – Britain now has a civil status called “Civil Partnerships” which […]
Posted in: adultery, Civil Unions, Compulsory Marriage, Discrimination, Divorce, Domestic Partnership, Economic Justice, Estate Planning, Family Law, Gender Identity Discrimination, Human Rights, Identity Politics, Lesbian & Gay Parenting, Marital Status Discrimination, Marriage, Sexual Orientation Discrimination | Comments (3)
What new politics and ethical imperatives emerge when the rights of lesbian and gay people begin to gain traction, and when the state becomes a partner in defending those newly-won rights? In Dating the State: The Moral Hazards of Winning Gay Rights, just published by the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, I offer a critical […]
Posted in: Citizenship, Family Law, Human Rights, Identity Politics, International Law, Islamophobia, Israel, Marriage, National Security, Palestine, Pinkwashing, Queer Theory, Queer vs. Gay Rights, Religious Fundamentalism, Reproductive Rights, Romania, Sexual Orientation Discrimination | Comments (7)
Andy Kravis is a rising 3L at Columbia Law School, where he is pursuing certification in gender and sexuality law through Columbia’s Center for Gender & Sexuality Law. In addition, he serves as Submissions Editor for the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, and he works on cases for the Columbia Sexuality and Gender Law […]
Posted in: Identity Politics, Sports | Comments (13)
by Rebecca Alpert and Katherine Franke (originally published in Tikkun Magazine) This week we were scheduled to speak at the Constitution Center as part of the Equality Forum’s 2012 LGBT Summit. Instead we, a rabbi and a law professor, have withdrawn our appearances at the event, disturbed that the Equality Forum, a major mainstream gay […]
Posted in: Citizenship, Identity Politics, Israel, Palestine, Pinkwashing | Comments (18)
Last week a court in Uganda issued a decision permanently enjoining a daily Kampala newspaper from printing the names and addresses of persons alleged to be gay or lesbian, and awarded damages to those whose identities the paper had already been published. On the front page of the paper, above the pictures of the supposed […]
Posted in: Criminal Law, Hate Crimes, Identity Politics, Outing, Privacy, Queer vs. Gay Rights, Uganda | Comments (7)
Back in November, the U.S. representative to the UN Human Rights Committee abstained when a vote was taken on a resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings on the grounds that the final resolution removed a specific mention of sexual orientation-based killings that had been included in the document since 2008 (the […]
Posted in: "Homeland" Security, Identity Politics, Islamophobia, Marriage, National Security, Obama Administration | Comments (8)
The hit TV show The Office, is a franchise. It originated in the U.K., then came over here to the U.S., then set up a beachhead in France, Germany, Canada (Quebec), Chile, and is now getting its own treatment in Israel, HaMisrad. The Israeli version has been getting ample media and web attention for it’s gay […]
Posted in: Identity Politics, In-ing, Outing, Popular Culture, Race and Racism, Sexual Orientation Discrimination | Comments (7)
Like many people, I’ve taken hard the suicide of Tyler Clementi. I got choked up this afternoon in front of the University of Connecticut Law School faculty when I mentioned his death as part of a talk I was giving on lgbt rights more generally. But I’d like to avoid using this post as either […]
Posted in: Criminal Law, Education, Identity Politics, Outing, Queer vs. Gay Rights, Sexual Orientation Discrimination | Comments (7)
A: What we think we know about their sexualities deviates from a narrowly defined and ruthlessly enforced notion of “healthy adult sexuality.” He liked/wanted/got too much, she (is assumed to) like/want/get not enough. The hub bub surrounding General Kagan’s (I love that title) nomination to the Supreme Court has unfortunately over-focused on her sexuality […]
Posted in: Family Law, Identity Politics, In-ing, Marriage, Obama Appointments, Outing, Parenting, Supreme Court | Comments (2)