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 [...]

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 [...]

Chinyere Ezie, Columbia Law School class of 2010 is Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law and former President of Outlaws (the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer/Allied student organization at Columbia Law School), offers the following reflections on ongoing attempts to bring lbgt people within the protection of federal hate crimes legislation in light of the deeply [...]

Katherine Darmer is a is a Professor of Law at Chapman University and is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow in the Gender & Sexuality Law Program this fall.   She offers the following observations about on-going litigation challenging a California High School’s failure to protect LGBT students from homophobic threats and violence:
Earlier this year, the New [...]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is back in New York for the annual fall gathering of heads of state at the U.N. General Assembly meeting.  As expected, his remarks to the body on Wednesday provoked outrage, walkouts, and general condemnation by various states and the media.  If all you did was read the press reports about [...]