Gender & Sexuality Law Blog

The New York Court of Appeals ruled today that the Westchester County Executive and the New York State Department of Civil Service were within their legal powers when they issued orders requiring relevant public officials to
recognize same sex marriages lawfully entered into outside the State of New York in the same manner as they currently [...]

Unless you were living in a cave you should be aware that a week ago Tuesday the people of Maine decided to pass on marriage rights for same-sex couples.  Commentators described it as not only “a harsh blow to the gay marriage drive,” but “a major set back to gay rights,” and “a tremendous and [...]

After a number of speeches in support of a measure honoring military veterans (tomorrow is Veterans’ Day) the New York State Senate suspended public deliberations – or “stands at ease,” in the official language of the body – not taking up either Governor Patterson’s deficit reduction plan (NYS has a $3 billion shortfall in its [...]

Follow below a live stream of today’s special session of the New York Senate, during which a vote on marriage equality is expected to take place.  The session begins at noon, but we don’t yet know when the vote may occur.

This has been a huge week for legislative action on a range of sexual rights – both at the local and national level (marriage equality measures passing in Washington State and Kalamazoo, Michigan, and going down in Maine; strict abortion funding restrictions going into the health care reform bill in DC while the bill included [...]

Marriage Equality in Maine:
Lessons Learned, Future Directions
Wednesday, November 4th 4:30 pm  Room 107, Greene Hall
▸ Suzanne Goldberg, Director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law;
▸ Nate Persily, Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science;
▸ James Tierney, Director of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School and former [...]

Reports from Maine show high turnout at the polls – this is read as good news for preserving marriage rights for same sex couples.  You know, homos don’t like rain!

The passage of Proposition 8 in California a year ago unleashed a troubling new strategy in the movement to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples: public shaming.  In an effort to slow down the ever-increasing use of propositions and referenda that forestall or overturn court or legislatively created marriage rights for same-sex couples, some advocates [...]

Nicole Medham is a third year law student at Columbia Law School and has these thoughts about a recent 20/20 episode that caught her attention when the authors of Freakonomics were interviewed about the what and why of various implications of feminism:
Last Friday’s edition of ABC’s 20/20 featured the authors of the bestseller Freakonomics, Steven [...]

Maine voters will see on their ballots next Tuesday a proposition to repeal legislation that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry.  The language on the ballot is:
Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?
The Research 2000/Daily Kos [...]