Gender & Sexuality Law Blog

With President Obama’s signature on December 22nd of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010, one might wonder about the status of the legal challenge to DADT now pending in the 9th Circuit?  Does the passage of the law render the challenge moot?  Or are there ongoing reasons why the 9th Circuit should […]

With President Obama’s signature putting the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell today, one might think: finally!  Lesbians and gay men can now serve their country openly and as patriots just like heterosexuals.  What is more, since the U.S. military is the country’s largest employer, the repeal of DADT should be seen as a victory […]

Suzanne Goldberg and I sat through the entire two hours of the Prop 8 argument yesterday – we had it broadcast for faculty and students in three different places in the law school.  If you missed it, you can watch it or read the transcript here. Goldberg was riveted by the first hour on standing.  […]

The 9th Circuit announced on Monday that oral arguments set for December 6 in the Proposition 8 lawsuit will begin with the question of whether supporters of the ballot measure have standing to appeal the case. The court will divide oral arguments into two hour-long sessions. The first hour will center on the issue of […]

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, at a press conference in connection with diplomatic and defense meetings held in Australia, urged that DADT be repealed by Congress during its lame duck session in December.  With the Pentagon’s long awaited “study” of the wisdom of repeal of DADT forthcoming in December, the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats […]

Tanya L. Domi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, who teaches about human rights in Eurasia and is a Harriman Institute affiliated faculty member. Captain Domi served for fifteen years in the U.S. Army as an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer.  She posted the following on the Blog […]

The national media has spilled much ink reporting on the ousting of three sitting Supreme Court justices in Iowa, something that has never happened in the history of judicial retention elections in Iowa.  Justices David Baker, Michael Streit and Marsha Ternus were removed from the Iowa high court on account of joining the court’s unanimous […]

Proposition 8 should be struck down because it denies same-sex couples access to the “unique” value” of marriage and “denigrates” domestic partners by not allowing them to marry, Professor Suzanne Goldberg argues in a brief filed for the latest challenge to the California law. The amicus brief, on behalf of four gay rights and civil […]

Rutgers students are way ahead of many of the national lgbt leaders in thinking about how to respond to the death of Tyler Clementi – with a call for justice, not vengeance.  Read their press release below – Wednesday, October 19, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contacts: Robert T. O’Brien (215) 704-8938, robertob@rci.rutgers.edu; Lauren Irene […]

Less than 24 hours after district court judge Virginia Phillips denied the Obama Administration’s motion to stay the implementation of her order to suspend the ban on out lesbians and gays serving in the military, a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the stay “temporarily in order to provide this […]