GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER ADVOCACY

PENN LAW FACULTY

TOLL PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER PARTNERS AT PENN

ALLIES
    • dolphin.upenn.edu/~allies/

Lambda Law
    • www.law.upenn.edu/groups/lambda/

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Center
    • www.vpul.upenn.edu/lgbtc/about/

Journal of Gay, Lesbian, & Bisexual Identity
    • cfp.english.upenn.edu/archive/Gender-Studies/0004.html

Penn's Eagerly Awaited Radical LesBiTrans Women (P.E.A.R.L.)
    • www.vpul.upenn.edu/pwc/pearl.html

POSSIBLE PRO BONO PLACEMENTS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN GLB&T ADVOCACY INCLUDE:

American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania
Berner & Klaw
Mazzoni Center
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN)

Penn Law Courses

This course will focus on topics not covered or covered slightly, in the first-year constitutional law course. There will be some, but hopefully not much, overlap with other advanced elective courses. Emphasis will be placed on important current issues and recent or pending cases. Among the topics, or subject areas, to be discussed: Civil liberties in the Age of Terrorism; immigration, citizenship and alien rights; congressional enforcement of the reconstruction amendments; new developments in racial equality (e.g., Michigan) sexuality and the constitution (e.g. Lawrence); religion and the First Amendment; the distribution of national power; commerce clause limitations on state power; congressional regulation of the political process. This list is not set in stone; there may be additions or subtractions.

More than 50% of the marriages in this country end in divorce; the percentage is even higher in many countries outside of the United States. Besides its emotional and financial impact on the divorcing parties, the transfers of wealth attendant to marital dissolutions have substantial economic consequences on society at large with the property subject to distribution in divorce expanding to include career achievements or career potential, celebrity status, enhanced earning capacity, license and degrees. This course provides exposure to the dynamic process of representing the spectrum of clients, including same-sex couples, in a dissolution of marriage case and the unique issues, such as dealing with the media, gag orders, and seeking to close courtrooms to shield children when representing high-profile and high net worth individuals. Topics are covered from the perspective of a practicing lawyer and include: initial client interviews and retention, jurisdiction and choice of law issues, child custody and visitation, the interplay between the Court and matrimonial attorneys, mental health issues, temporary and permanent maintenance for spouses and support for children, awards of attorney and expert fees, the nature of property subject to division and distribution, the valuation process, unique issues raised by certain types of property, effects of bankruptcy, pre- and post-marital agreements, negotiating and drafting marital settlement agreements, pre-trial discovery preparation for and conduct of trial, and Federal tax aspects of marital dissolution. Guest lecturers may include a sitting matrimonial judge, a forensic accountant and a former client.

This course explores the tensions, common interests and political ramifications of religious faith and religious activity in an ostensibly secular society. The course will focus on constitutional issues, including the establishment and free exercises clauses of the federal constitution, and state and federal statutes such as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. It will also address questions of broad social applicability, including but not limited to compulsory flag salutes, school prayer, religious accommodation for employees, polygamy and same-sex marriage, drugs, ritual slaughter of animals, and government funding of religious freedom in the United States, as well as the development of constitutional doctrine and caselaw. There will be an in-class, open book exam.

This seminar changes every year to cover cases and legal issues that occur during the term and throughout the previous two years. Topics to be covered this semester will include the terrorism cases, the torture memos, gay marriage, the right to die, affirmative action, sentencing guidelines, the death penalty, election law controversies, and other topics that come up during the term.

This course will introduce the basic theories and legal principles underlying equal employment opportunity law in the United States. The course focuses primarily on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, and secondarily on the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act: the fundamental federal statutes prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, gender, religion, age and disability. The course begins with an overview of the primary structures of proof in employment discrimination cases--individual disparate treatment, systemic disparate treatment, and disparate impact. We then consider in greater depth specific topics including sexual harassment, gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination, retaliation, pregnancy discrimination, religious discrimination, reasonable accommodation requirements, and affirmative action.

This survey course will provide an introduction to the field of family law. It will examine the importance of “family” and “marriage” as categories of legal regulation. The course will cover the legal requirements for entering into marriage, the legal consequences of marital status, common law incidents of marriage and reforms of the common law, legal responses to domestic violence, and alternatives to marriage. It will explore changing and contested definitions of marriage and family, including the ongoing political and legal debates over same-sex marriage and over the recognition of alternatives to marriage, such as civil unions and domestic partnerships. Family contracts, such as premarital agreements and separation agreements, will be a topic of study. The course will examine rules concerning family dissolution, including traditional and “no-fault” divorce, property division, spousal support, child support, and custody. It will also consider how family law determines legal parenthood and regulates adoption and alternative reproductive technologies. The course is intended to introduce students to family law as a dynamic field of law, one in which, in recent decades, there has been significant modification in doctrine. Another aim is to expose students to how family law intersects with the social sciences and with many other fields of law, including property, contracts, constitutional law, conflict of laws, and torts.

This course will study legal material as expressive of, and as supportive of, differing concepts of equality and its role as a social value, rather than as simply part of a course of doctrinal development or a system of analytical reasoning. Its premise is that differences in those concepts are often not recognized, and the contestability and bases of one's approach to equality issues are often not acknowledged. Substantively, the course will include aspects of legal regulation affecting the status of racial, religious and ethnic "minorities," women, gay and lesbian people, and people perceived as disabled, as well as, the interaction between the law and inequality in the distribution of wealth and income. It will do this in part by examining "antidiscrimination," "equal protection," or "poverty" law, but will focus also on issues of equality implicit in such mainstream first-year subjects as Procedure and Contracts.

The study of privacy law serves several purposes. Most importantly, it introduces students to an important area of legal practice. Not only is privacy law now a recognized area of legal practice in its own right, but knowledge of privacy law is frequently called for in the practice of health, business and intellectual property law. The study of privacy law serves another purpose: developing a better understanding of the concept of privacy and the controversies--some philosophical, some political-- surrounding its application in the law. The course is divided into three sections or "chapters." Our study begins with state common law. State common law is an historic source of privacy protections. Chapter 1 examines the origins of state privacy law in the late 19th century and its subsequent growth until today. The chapter considers the four common law invasion of privacy torts recognized in most states and by the American Law Institute’s Restatement of (Second) of Torts. The chapter also examines the closely affiliated state common law of publicity and confidentiality. Chapter 1 samples major statutes enacted by state legislatures both to create privacy rights akin to those recognized in the common law and to supplement them. We move next to the federal constitution, a crucial major source of privacy law. Chapter 2 takes on the voluminous privacy jurisprudence spawned by the Bill of Rights-- most importantly, the First and Fourth Amendments’ jurisprudence of associational, physical, and informational privacy. This chapter also features the often-controversial Fourteenth Amendment equal protection and substantive due process decisional privacy jurisprudence. It concludes with a consideration of state constitutions that, state courts have held, significantly expand privacy protection beyond federal limits. The journey ends after an encounter with the federal privacy statutes, a dynamic source of privacy and data protection law. Chapter 3 examines nearly a dozen federal privacy statutes, covering government record management; health, education, and financial data; video rentals; communications; the internet; and surveillance. The chapter touches on some state counterparts to federal legislation and the agency rules that implement them.

This seminar will address the ways that marriage has been defined and re-defined in American law and religion. We will focus especially on the ways that supporters and opponents of same-sex unions have argued that justice, the Constitution, faith, and equality lead to one or another conclusion. Students will be required to write weekly responses to the reading, or a single research paper. Senior writing credit available for longer papers.

This seminar will address the ways that marriage has been defined and re-defined in American law and religion. We will focus especially on the ways that supporters and opponents of same-sex unions have argued that justice, the Constitution, faith, and equality lead to one or another conclusion. Students will be required to write weekly responses to the reading, or a single research paper. Senior writing credit available for longer papers.

3 sem. hrs.
This seminar explores the various ways that sexuality has been regulated through the years and the current legal challenges faced by the LGBT community. You will learn modern and post-modern theories of gender and sexuality. Using these theories, you will learn to analyze all key legal aspects of this increasingly important issue in a critical and up-to-date fashion. The seminar commences with a survey of the history of sexuality and its regulation around the world--when, why and how countries began to regulate sex. We will examine ways that heterosexuality was presented as the sole natural means to practice sexuality and ways that the law was regulated to maintain this. We will challenge the perception of sex, gender and sexual orientation as binary categories and ask whether or not related laws are sufficient to handle more complex categorizations of sexuality. We will examine the history of sexuality and gender and the narrative related to the emergence of the LGBT community in the political, social and legal realms. We will follow with an examination of the gay-liberation movement, with a focus on the way the LGBT community has used courts and legislation to achieve their goals. We will leverage all this knowledge to help investigate the current status of sex regulation. Students will be required to write weekly responses to the readings, or a single research paper. Class participation will constitute a substantial part of your final grade. This will be a participatory seminar. Attendance is required. Course materials will be distributed electronically on Course Portal.