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Law
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 The
Constitutional Underclass : Gays, Lesbians, and the Failure of Class-Based Equal Protection
by Evan Gerstmann
When the Supreme Court struck down
Colorado's Amendment 2--which would have nullified all
state and local laws protecting gays and lesbians from
discrimination--it was widely regarded as a victory for
gay rights. Yet many gays and lesbians still risk losing
their jobs, custody of their children, and even their
liberty under the law. Using the Colorado initiative as
his focus, Gerstmann untangles the complex standards and
subtle rhetoric the Supreme Court uses to apply the equal
protection clause.
The Court divides people into legal
classes that receive varying levels of protection; gays
and lesbians and other groups, such as the elderly and the
poor, receive the least. Gerstmann reveals how these
standards are used to favor certain groups over others,
and also how Amendment 2 advocates used the Court's
doctrine to convince voters that gays and lesbians were
seeking "special rights" in Colorado.
Concluding with a call for wholesale
reform of equal-protection jurisprudence, this book is
essential reading for anyone interested in fair, coherent,
and truly equal protection under the law.
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Professor Arthur Leonard of New York Law School
compiled bibliography which contains a list of every law review
article ever published which references AIDS or HIV.
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The American Civil Liberties Union is the
nation's foremost advocate of individual rights -- litigating,
legislating, and educating the public on a broad array of issues
affecting individual freedom in the United States. This is a
general introduction and history to the ACLU, the first in a
series of briefing papers. Other briefing papers, produced by the
ACLU Office of Public Education, explain the organization's
position on a range of specific civil liberties issues.
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The Columbia Journal of Gender and Law is the
preeminent journal for scholarship on the interaction
between gender and law. The Columbia Journal of Gender and
Law fosters dialogue, debate, and awareness about gender-related
issues and feminist scholarship. We consider gender to be a
broad category which includes issues relevant to people of
different colors, classes, sexual orientations, and
cultures. Our articles express an expansive view of feminist
jurisprudence, embracing issues relating to women and men of all
races, ethnicities, classes, sexual orientations, and cultures.
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The law school's newest journal, the Duke
Journal of Gender Law & Policy, was established in 1994.
It is an interdisciplinary publication devoted to discussion and
consideration of gender issues in the context of law and public
policy. The journal encourages works from multiple perspectives,
with particular emphasis on practical analysis, in an effort to
identify the connections between social science and the law,
scholarship and public policy, and academic work and professional
practice. The journal is advised by a faculty board whose members
are drawn from the faculties of the Law School, the Terry Sanford
Institute of Public Policy, and the Women's Studies Program.
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The Human Rights Campaign envisions an America
where lesbian and gay people are ensured of their basic equal
rights - and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work, and in
the community.
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In April 1993, twenty-five lesbian and gay judges
and judicial officers met in suburban Washington, D.C. and formed
the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges. Those
twenty-five came from California, the District of Columbia,
Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Oregon.
The objectives of the Association, adopted at
that meeting, are:
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IGLHRC's mission is to protect and advance the
human rights of all people and communities subject to
discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation, gender
identity or HIV status.
Site Includes:
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The International Lesbian and Gay Association is
a world-wide federation of national and local groups dedicated to
achieving equal rights for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and
transgendered people everywhere.
Founded in 1978, it now has more than 350 member
organizations. Every continent and around 80 countries are
represented. ILGA member groups range from small collectives to
national groups and entire cities.
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The nation's oldest and largest legal
organization working for the civil rights of lesbians, gay men,
and people with HIV/AIDS.
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is a
national organization committed to achieving full recognition of
the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS
through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.
Lambda carries out its legal work principally
through test cases selected for the likelihood of their success in
establishing positive legal precedents that will affect lesbians,
gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS. From our offices in New York,
Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta, Lambda's legal staff of
attorneys works on a wide range of cases, with our docket
averaging over 50 cases at any given time.
Lambda also maintains a national network of
volunteer Cooperating Attorneys, which widens the scope of our
legal work and allows attorneys, legal workers, and law students
to become involved in our program by working with our legal staff.
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A Review of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Legal Issues: The first student-published
journal dedicated to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender legal
issues. This journal has recently published articles
examining such topics as domestic partnership ordinances, free
speech, gays in the military, same-sex parenting, and Fourteenth
Amendment protections. Published annually. Phone:
(504) 865-5835
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LGIRTF is a national non-profit organization that offers
support, information and advocacy to lesbian, gay and HIV+
immigrants.
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The Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater
New York (LeGaL) is a Bar Association of the lesbian and gay legal
community in the New York metropolitan area.
LeGaL to: Promoting the expertise and
advancement of lesbian and gay legal professionals; Educating the
public on legal issues facing lesbians and gay men; Fostering
membership participation in pro bono activities in the lesbian and
gay community; Working with lesbian and gay organizations,
community groups and groups and individuals to gain equal rights
for all people; Eliminating homophobia in the justice system;
Encouraging judicial and other governmental appointment of those
who oppose discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation;
Encouraging lesbians and gay men to choose law as a career;
Promoting solidarity among lesbians and gay men in the law.
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Lesbian/Gay Law Notes,
a publication of the Lesbian
and Gay Law Association of Greater New York. It is chiefly
written and edited by Professor Arthur Leonard of New York Law
School.
This archive is with the Queer
Resource Directory, containing issues from 1994 to the
present.
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The Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay
Bar Association (MLGBA) is a voluntary state-wide professional
association of lawyers providing a visible lesbian and gay
presence within the Massachusetts legal community. Law students
and other members of the legal profession are encouraged to become
non-voting associate members.
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Founded in 1977, NCLR is the only national legal and advocacy
organization dedicated to achieving full civil and human
rights for all lesbians and their families. Each year NCLR
provides litigation, legal resources, advocacy and community
education to more than 1,500 lesbians, bisexuals, gay men and
transgender people across the United States. From advocating
to legalize lesbian and gay marriage to providing partnership
protection documents to couples, NCLR leads the struggle to
win equal protections and benefits for same-sex families.
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The Journal's primary purpose is to
disseminate information and ideas about law and sexual orientation
in an efficient and timely manner, but without duplicating the
recent inclusion of articles on sexual orientation in traditional
law reviews.
The Journal specializes in four
distinct types of works:
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reports and studies germane to
gay and lesbian legal issues |
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transcriptions of proceedings,
panels and programs |
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briefs filed by litigators
around the country in key cases |
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essays, student work and other
forms of traditional law review scholarship which, due to
space limitations, may not be published in traditional reviews
and journals |
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NLGLA is a specialty bar association organized to provide a
structure and forum for its members. As such, NLGLA does not
provide a lawyer referral service to the general public. Some
of our members, however, have agreed to accept inquiries on
legal issues faced by non-members. Names of such members in
your area may be provided upon request by e-mail, fax, or
telephone without charge and without warranty of any kind by
NLGLA. Our members are free to reject or accept any inquiry
and to negotiate their own fees for any legal services they
provide. NLGLA has not verified the information provided, and
does not recommend use of, or necessarily endorse the views or
opinions of, any listed attorney. Membership in NLGLA is open
to all attorneys willing to serve the needs of the LGBT
community and does not necessarily imply that the listed
attorney is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered.
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NOW
was conceived in a conversation and born at a women's conference
with a paper napkin serving as its birth certificate. It all
started when Pauli Murray, an African American feminist and
Episcopalian minister, suggested to Feminine Mystique author
Betty Friedan that women needed a group to advocate on their
behalf, much as the NAACP
advocated for African Americans. Then in June of 1966 at the Third
National Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women,
which was held in Washington, D.C., 27 women and one man,
including Friedan and Murray, established the National
Organization for Women. NOW's official statement of purpose,
which Friedan scribbled on a napkin, remains the same today:
"to take action to bring women into the full participation in
the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges
and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with
men."
In the last 30 years, NOW has adopted more than
a dozen resolutions and stances on an array of issues, including
women in poverty, the Equal
Rights Amendment and lesbian
rights. But the organization has five official priorities: the
passing of an equal
rights amendment to the U.S.
Constitution , opposing
racism, advocating for abortion
and reproductive rights, supporting lesbian
and gay rights and ending violence
against women. -- Gayle Forman
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QUEERLAW is a list devoted to discussion, analysis
and promulgation of queer legal theory and all other aspects of
sexual orientation and The Law. The idea behind the list is to
facilitate discussion between a diverse number of assorted groups
ranging from law professors and law students to individuals inte
rested in how The Law affects, and is affected by, sexual
minorities.
QUEERLAW is intended to be a general (unmoderated)
discussion mailing list. However it has a specific focus on topics
related to both sexual orientation and the law. There are a lot of
topics which involve sexual orientation which may be best
discussed on other lists.
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The QRD archives the following lists:
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Rainbow Law was founded by an
attorney and an RN who both know first hand what protections are
needed in legal and in medical settings. Our web site was created to
reach out to as many lesbians and gay men as possible in order to
provide them with access to legal information and documents that are
necessary to protect same-sex relationships in case of death,
disability or break-up. We describe and demystify documents like the
Living Revocable Trust, Living Will, Durable Powers of Attorney and
Living Together Agreement, to name a few. We tell you in plain
English how these documents protect us and why lesbians and gay men
need them. To emphasize our commitment to the LGBT community, we
provide the same documents, inexpensively, and offer a sliding scale
fee. And Rainbow Law documents are legal in all 50 states. Until our
government grants us equal rights in our relationships, Rainbow Law
is determined to see that every lesbian and gay man is empowered by
legal information and protection. In addition to the web site, we
offer free workshops throughout the country and are in the process
of writing a book based on the workshop. Especially now, during this
time of crisis and uncertainty, we need to get our wishes in
writing. Until we do, although we are partners in love and in life,
we are legal strangers in the eyes of the law.
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With a nationwide network of over 200 attorneys
from the best law firms in the nation, SLDN offers the legal
advice and assistance that service-members need to effectively
respond to investigations. In its first year, SLDN helped over 400
servicemembers. SLDN works closely with its allies in the
military, Congress, and the media to serve those military members
at risk. In addition, SLDN carefully documents abuses of the new
policy on homosexuals and uses the data gathered from the field to
push for policy change. In its first year, SLDN secured three
significant changes to the policy on homosexuals and launched
efforts to change twelve additional areas. These efforts will not
make the new policy on homosexuals constitutional, but they will
make life for lesbian and gay servicemembers slightly less
intolerable and will help erode the pillars undergirding the new
policy.
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By Katia Roberto
[This site attempts] to create a guide to queer
sources in anthropology, education, history, law, psychology,
sociology, and social work. Obviously, this is a huge undertaking
that is far from being comprehensive. This site is only
supposed to be a starting point. Its intended audience is social
sciences scholars who are interested in finding out more
information about queer studies. I've tried to keep the
jargon-filled sources to a minimum, though, so that anyone
who is interested in these two areas can find something of use...
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