[info] GLBT at UMLS (LSAC questions)

The University of Michigan Law School welcomes and encourages applications from LGBT applicants. In considering whether Michigan Law might be a good fit for you, you should consider Michigan's answers to the questions the Law School Admissions Council suggests LGBT applicants ask.

1. Does the law school have a nondiscrimination policy which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity? YES.

Nondiscrimination Policy

The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or Vietnam-era veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the University's Director of Affirmative Action and Title IX/Section 504 Coordinator, Office for a Multicultural Community, 2072 Administrative Services Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1432, 734.763.0235, TTY 734.647.1388.

2. Does the law school have a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered student organization? YES.

Student Organization Contact Information
Outlaws
University of Michigan Law School
625 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
outlaws@umich.edu
www.umoutlaws.org

Outlaws' Objectives

• To add the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender law students
  to the dialogue of the law school and university communities;
  
• To embrace and learn from our straight allies;
  
• To increase the visibility and involvement of our LGBT students of color;
  
• To provide a forum for gay, bisexual, transgender, and lesbian students to
  meet and form a community;
  
• To reach out to other organizations not traditionally allied with Outlaws;
  
• To extend support for closeted law students;
  
• To keep our members informed of events and queer rights issues outside of
  the law school; and
  
• To change the world, one openly queer lawyer at a time.

3. Does the law school have any openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered faculty members? YES.

Faculty Contact Information

Bruce W. Frier
Henry King Ransom Professor of Law
bwfrier@umich.edu

Professor Madeline Kochen
kochen@umich.edu
734.647.2622

4. Does the law school offer any courses specific to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered legal issues? YES.

Course Titles and/or Descriptions

Sexual Orientation and the Law
This course will focus on recent developments in sexual orientation and the law, with particular emphasis on constitutional issues involving substantive due process, equal protection, and the First Amendment. Advanced constitutional problems will be examined both from a theoretical and a practical, litigator's perspective. Subjects covered will include the criminalization of consensual, same-sex sexual activity; discrimination in employment, parenting, and access to marriage; and the regulation of speech and association involving sexual orientation issues or gay people. The course will also consider the related topics of gender roles and gender identity in the law.

Family Law
Legal regulation of intimate and personal relationships and activities has undergone a great deal of change in the past four decades. In this course we will examine evolving doctrines underlying state regulation of the creation, management and dissolution of family relationships, and of related rights and obligations of the individual. We will pay particular attention to constitutional principles that circumscribe the states power and role in this area. We will explore how the meaning of family is shaped and contested, and how fundamental perceptions involving gender, religion, sexual orientation, class, etc., are reinforced or challenged, by the law of family relations. Topics to be covered include procreation and parenting, birth control and abortion, marriage and divorce, the rights of children, and new reproductive technologies.

5. Does the law school offer any form of domestic partnership benefits to faculty, staff, or students? YES.

Domestic Partnership Benefits

University of Michigan Same-Sex Domestic Partner Policy:
In September, 1993, the University of Michigan Board of Regents revised Regental By-Law 14.06 to read:
The University is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or Vietnam-era veteran status. The university is committed to equal and nondiscriminatory treatment for all faculty and staff in the administration of benefits programs, including the extension of benefits to same-sex domestic partners. For the purpose of this policy statement, any benefits, privileges, rights and responsibilities that accrue to spouses of university faculty and staff by virtue of their status as spouses will accrue to committed same-sex partners of university faculty and staff by virtue of their status as same-sex partners. For more information, visit:
www.umich.edu/~benefits/events/ssdp/index.htm.

If you are eligible for benefits at the University of Michigan, you can cover your same-sex domestic partner. To be eligible, you and your partner must:

• Be of the same sex; and
  
• Not be legally married to another individual; and
  
• Not be related to each other by blood in a manner that would bar marriage; and
  
• Have registered or declared the Domestic Partnership in the manner authorized by a municipality or other government entity; and
  
• Have allowed at least six months to pass since the dissolution of a previous same-sex domestic partnership in the manner authorized by a municipality or other government entity.

If you and your partner meet these criteria, you may add your partner to your eligible benefit plans which, depending on your appointment status, may include:

• Medical insurance
  
• Dental coverage
  
• Vision plan
  
• Legal plan
  
• Optional group life insurance coverage
  
• Flexible Spending Accounts*

* Due to IRS regulations, expenses of your domestic partner and/or your partner's children can be submitted for reimbursement under a FSA only if they qualify as eligible dependents that you can claim on your federal income tax return.

These benefits are not being offered to opposite-sex domestic partners since faculty, staff, and students can marry opposite-sex domestic partners and cover them under the university's benefit programs. In addition to coverage for a domestic partner, faculty and staff may also elect coverage for the qualified child(ren) of a domestic partner. The dependent child(ren) of a domestic partner are eligible for coverage
through the end of the month they turn 25 if they:

• Live primarily with you but may be temporarily away from home attending school or visiting the other parent; and
  
• Are claimed as a dependent on your or your partner's most recent income tax return; and
  
• Are not eligible for coverage through the university as an employee; and
  
• Are not already covered through the university as a dependent on another University employee's coverage.

6. Have there been any instances of harassment in recent years at the Law School? NO.

7. Would University housing be available for you and your partner? YES.

To qualify for Family Housing, http://www.housing.umich.edu/family/applying.html, students must be legally married or in a same-sex domestic
partnership (see City of Ann Arbor City Clerk's Office under Domestic Partnership forms).