[plug] TwiceBlessed - Jewish LGBT Upcoming Events

Save the Dates:

* Break Passover with Twice Blessed
Thursday, April 20 at The Blue Nile in Ann Arbor
Please RSVP to Larry by 4/17

* Jewish Film Festival: Thursday, May 4
Keep Not Silent & Hineni: Coming Out in a Jewish High School, Two Jewish GLBT films co-sponsored by Twice Blessed and Ahava at UM Hillel
Michigan Theater, 2pm & Meet for coffee and discussion afterward
For more information, contact Aaron

* BBQ, potluck and bonfire at Aaron's (in honor of Lag B'Omer that week!)
Saturday, May 20, 4pm
For directions & to RSVP, please contact Aaron

* June: Top of the Park - Details to follow

[news] No "To-Go" Marriages in Massachusetts

Without comity, life is but tragedy.

"The laws of this commonwealth have not endowed non-residents with an unfettered right to marry," the court wrote in its 38-page opinion. "Only non-resident couples who come to Massachusetts to marry and intend to reside in this commonwealth thereafter can be issued a marriage license without consideration of any impediments to marriage that existed in their former home states."

(link to article)

[note] Lavender Graduation Awards

The Office of LGBT Affairs is now collecting nominations for our annual Lavender Graduation Awards. This year, the nomination process is much easier and less time-consuming than in previous years. To nominate someone, simply fill out the online submission form now available on the LGBTA website (here)

If you have a moment, please consider nominating someone or two or three (including yourself!) and also help spread the word. Nominations are due Friday, April 14.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Kevin

Kevin Correa
Administrative and Programming Assistant Office of Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender Affairs, University of Michigan 3200 Michigan Union - 530 S. State St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1308
734.763.4186

[plug] Love Makes a Family Exhibit

Please join us for this exciting event honoring families in all their forms - Love Makes A Family

Love Makes A Family Opening Reception and Gala Tuesday, April 4 6:00p-8:30p Michigan Room, Michigan League

Exhibit on Display: Wednesday, April 4 through Friday, April 7 1st Floor, Michigan Union
Love Makes a Family is a group of 30 portraits and profiles of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parents and their families. The exhibit will open at the University of Michigan before traveling the state, stopping at EMU, MSU, GVSU, Wayne State University, the Downtown Detroit Public Library and the State Capitol Building for Family Lobby Day on April 19.

This exhibits honors families in all of its forms and includes families from the University of Michigan community:
-Denise Brogan, UM Law Student
-David Garcia, YMCA Ann Arbor Staff Member
-Susan Wilson, Director, Office of Student Activities and Leadership
-Kelly Maxwell, Associate Director, Program on Intergroup Relations
For more information on the Gallery, please visit (here)

event contact:
Gabriel C. Javier
Assistant Director
Office of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Affairs University of Michigan (website)
3200 Michigan Union 530 S. State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1308
734 763-4186 FAX 734 641-4133

[event] Journal Expo for Outlaw 1Ls

Wednesday, April 5th During Lunch (Room 118):

An amazing group of people have volunteered their precious time to talk to you about the various UMLS journals AND how to maximize your chances of getting on to the journal you want!

Panel Members include:
Law Review - Nicholas, Article Editor
Journal of Law Reform - Bob, outgoing Editor-in-Chief
Journal of International Law - Anne, Contributing Editor
MTTLR - Sharon, Executive Symposium Editor
Race & law - Jeetander, incoming Editor-in-Chief
Gender & Law - Nadine, Student Note Coordinator

*Food Will Be Provided*

[news] "Cease and De-sissy"

We're used to seeing gay cases involving Equal Protection or Due Process. But...the Copyright Act? Some poor fellow got a nastygram from Exodus International about his parody of their campaign (can you spot the parody, can you guess the original campaign?). One of our members said he'd write out an exposition of the legal issues for us. Me, I'm just gonna sit back and laugh.

(link to story)

(tag line shamelessly stolen from manhattanoffender.com)



[edit: Mar 23rd, 8:16.]--------------------------------

It seems the ACLU has picked up the cause of our celebrated satirist.

And we get more of the story (though there's not a lot to tell):

The billboard, sponsored by the "ex-gay'' ministry Exodus International in Florida, read, "Gay? Unhappy? www.exodus.to.'' Watts, 26, a web developer for O'Reilly Media in Sebastopol, felt compelled to respond when he saw the billboard on a Web site in September.

"It was pretty immediate. It took about 15 or 20 minutes. I felt it was pretty offensive, unfair and mean spirited. I wanted to respond in a productive way,'' Watt said.

His response was an altered version of the billboard that he posted on his blog. It read, "Straight? Unhappy? www.gay.com.''

His intent was to get straight people to think how they would feel if their sense of self was disparaged.

"If the parody was real it would be ridiculous,'' Watt said.

(link to article)



[edit: Mar 25rd, 7:51am]--------------------------------


Well, the ACLU sent its own letter (which very nicely explains that you can make fun of people if you want to--even if it tramples on a few Copyright laws in the process), and it seems Exodus has backed down.

Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles
is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists
in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

Art of War.

Case closed?

(link to Justin's blog post, including ACLU letter)


[edit: Mar 25rd, 9:32am]--------------------------------


We'd like to remind you, Dear Internet User, that big fish like to push little fish around. If you get a nastygram, don't immediately run scared. The law is not so easy to judge: just because they say you're doing something wrong does not mean it's true. Call an attorney, the EFF, the ACLU--anybody (not us).

(link to EFF's Bloggers' Rights)

[event] Party with the Prospectives! II

Last night was great! Thanks to everyone who came. (even if i did get in a bit of trouble and just spent the last 2 hours cleaning).

Tonight is going to be even better.

Meet us at 9p at the Reading Room steps.
We'll head to Bab's Underground Lounge (213 S Ashley St near the intersection of S Ashley and Washington).

Call if you miss us!

Matt - 505.860.4213

[event] Party with the Prospectives!

TONIGHT!

Party at my place. Lawyers Club F-22. 8:30p.
It is prospective students' weekend, but there is no LSSS bar night, so I thought it might be fun to move Rick's to my place.

I heart you guys.

[news] Live Free or Die...

New Hampshire legislators have declined (bigly) to get caught up in amendment mania. (link to article)

That means all we have to worry about this year is:

• Alabama (Spring),
  
• Idaho (Fall),
  
• South Carolina (Fall),
  
• South Dakota (Fall),
  
• Tennessee (Fall),
  
• Virginia (Fall), and
  
• Wisconsin. (Fall)
  

[edit: 9:56pm]------------------
Check stateline.org for a quick run-down of what states are doing what (link to same-sex marriage law summary).

Even though big elections are looming, however, it seems that (according to Pew) support for equal marriage rights is up--or, should I say, opposition is down. (link to article) Could we have finally hit the fatigue line, when the public realizes there are more important things to outcry about?

[news] Gays & Bird Flu

Apparently bird flu is now our fault too:

Rabbi David Basri, head of the Magen David Yeshiva in Jerusalem, on Tuesday lashed out at the left of center Meretz Party for running election ads supporting same-sex marriage. . .

With at least two cases of deadly bird flu reported in Israel, Basri said the outbreak was God's punishment for the promotion of same-sex marriage.

"The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through plagues against animals and then in people," Basri said in a religious edict.

Full story (here)

[note] A2 Connection: Lesbian Social Network

Hey everyone -- here's a home-grown attempt to get some fun lesbian events going. Thought you might be interested.

The moderator writes:
The first year I lived in Ann Arbor, I was convinced there was a Lesbian-only club/hangout somewhere, and all I needed was to find the pass-word or secret handshake. Sigh...if only that was true.

There's a place for us gals in Ann Arbor, but we have to create it. Let's start hanging out in May 2006 and see what happens! Beginning with Memorial Day Weekend, let's establish a monthly get-together -- as if we had our own coffee house or women's center -- that just allows us to meet each other and make new friends.

This group is for Lesbians in Ann Arbor, MI that would like to start networking outside of the bar scene (no offense to Aut Bar). All are welcome; we do not support cliquey groups. The idea is to create a place where we can meet new people!

This is not a forum for dating or selling things. Sites already exist to help you find that special lady.

We hope A2 Connection will be a hub for the Lesbian social 'scene' in Ann Arbor. It's up to us to do it!

Thanks much.

Where the girls are:
A2connection : A2 Connection: Lesbian Social Network

Where the girls read:
Yahoo! Groups : LezReadA2

[event] Preview Weekend Schedule

Prospective Students coming to town this weekend --
oh yeah, and Outlaws

I thought you might like to see your social calendar for the upcoming weekend so you can plan accordingly.

Gear up.

Thursday
630-830p Outlaws Table at Reading Room for Coffee and Dessert
830-12(ish) Party in the Lawyer's Club at Matt's (F-22), the perfect substitute for Rick's
12(ish) - ?? Chasing the essence of the night (I know Collin, but I like the phrase)

Friday
Bab's! (meet at the reading room steps at 9p)

Saturday
Prospectives: Back home, happy with your decision to come to beautiful University of Michigan
1Ls: Oh, crap, I haven't done anything all weekend, I need to get to work!
2Ls and 3Ls: Yet another party (oh and probably me too)

[news] DADTDWorry?

I suppose this is a good sign.

The US military allowed at least 36 gay soldiers last year to stay in uniform, despite efforts by their commanders or fellow soldiers to have them discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, according to a review of hundreds of cases in which soldiers sought to remain in uniform without denying their homosexuality.

(link to article)

[note] Professor Balkin posts about FAIR

Professor Balkin (Yale) submitted a lengthy post reacting to FAIR. It's an easy read and kind of fun:

I have no idea what will happen in the future, but I strongly suspect that several law schools (although perhaps not Yale) will try to push the envelope as far as they can, employing their First Amendment rights as the Court describes them in FAIR v. Rumsfeld. The military will almost certainly object to this treatment, in part because one of the central purposes of the Solomon Amendment (and the military's implementation of it) was to get back at academics for failing to display what the military regarded as sufficient respect. That is to say, the Solomon Amendment wasn't really about access (there was effective access at Yale); it was about symbolism and respect, and it was about sticking it to pointy-headed liberal intellectuals in universities.

Thus, if law schools and law school faculty begin to protest military recruitment in earnest, and the military begins to complain that it feels unwelcome and isn't receiving truly equal access under the Solomon Amendment, then the case will wind up in the courts all over again. And the issues that Chief Justice Roberts so artfully dodged in his opinion in FAIR v. Rumsfeld will come back to haunt the both him and Court.

Full post (here)

[note] What's there to do in Michigan, you ask?

It's not New York City or San Francisco, but Southeast Michigan does have quite of bit of gay.

(link to The Big Gay Guide)

p.s. I <3 google maps mashups like this.

[pics] Around the Law School

I got a new camera today and took a few snapshots around the law school.

(link to more pictures)

[note] Alumni Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for taking the time to read the latest edition of the University of Michigan Law School Outlaws alumni newsletter. Our goal with this newsletter is to inform UMLS alumni about the activities of Outlaws in the hope of fostering greater communication between alumni and current students. We are excited to share news of our recent and upcoming activities with you and hope that you will in turn keep us informed about your activities, both professional and personal. Please email us anytime with questions, ideas or updates at alumni@umoutlaws.org.

In this issue:

• Fall Term At-a-Glance: A Message from the Outlaws Chair
  
• PAC
  
• A Vibrant Social Community

And don't forget to visit our Junk Shop, for your queer gear: tshirts, buttons, magnets, and more. All proceeds from sales in the shop go to create a stronger LGBT community at UMLS and to help attract and train the future queer lawyers (and leaders) of America.



So, please...shop heartily.

Best wishes!





Fall Term At-a-Glance: A Message from the OutLaws Chair
Kyle, Co-Chair

This fall we welcomed numerous 1L Outlaws and allies. We kicked off the year with a retreat to Saugatuck. While it is unclear if we will have the budget to take such a trip in the future, those of us who attended had a great time. Incoming students who were not able to attend the retreat were greeted with personal mentors. This is the first year we have tried to match every incoming Outlaw with a 2L or 3L mentor. The feedback we've received about our Mentorship Program has been very positive. Our increase in numbers has provided the group with much-needed social, political, and racial diversity.

This past term, continuing our efforts from last year, we formed a Queers of Color Discussion Group and, we have been working with Career Services and Dean Johnson's office to put in place more support for students. Headed up by veteran 2Ls, 3Ls and a member of Career Services, we held a successful panel addressing 1L summer clerkship positions. Having a member of Career Services available in an intimate setting cleared up questions that our members may not have had an opportunity to ask in large, school-wide settings.

Dean Johnson renewed and increased her commitment to Outlaws' participation in the Sexual Orientation Moot Court competition. This year, with help from Dean Johnson, we are sending two teams to UCLA's competition.

We were also able to send twelve people to Lavender Law this year. Our ability to send so many people is a direct result of Dean Caminker and Dean Johnson's support of our group. Everyone reported having a great time in San Diego.

As usual, one of our greatest sources of financial support came from the Nannes Challenge. As a result of 3Ls pledging future financial contributions to the law school, Outlaws' budget was augmented by over $3,000. You will be proud to know that Outlaws was one of the student groups to receive the greatest amount of pledge support from the student body. While we can always use more money to effectuate our goals, support from our members, allies, and administrators has enabled us to undertake many LGBT related activities.

Outlaws has remained a vibrant social community this term. With the help of our allies, we hosted an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. The Thanksgiving dinner was well attended and the food was amazing. We also combined our social efforts with community service by holding a community-wide party at the Aut Bar. The Aut Bar generously agreed to donate a portion of every drink purchased to LGBT survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

This Spring, Outlaws will turn its attention to recruiting. With the advent of our new website, we hope to communicate to everyone researching UM Outlaws how active we are on campus.

Looking to the future, we are hoping to host a major event, something akin to a banquet or a well-attended, law school-wide party. One of our greatest political strengths is our visibility and we are working on putting together an event that will include a larger segment of the student body. Currently, we are considering hosting a drag ball. This idea is embryonic, however. We still need to work out the logistics, including marketing and financing. A group has formed to coordinate the planning of this event.

We have an exciting semester ahead of us and look forward to hearing from our alums.

Best wishes,
Kyle Y. Faget, co-chair
(back to top)


PAC
Steve Kilar, PAC Chair

Throughout the Fall term, Outlaws had a successful season of raising the law school's awareness of LGBT political issues! We began the semester with well-received events promoting National Coming Out Day and protesting on-campus JAG recruiting. Responses to these events were largely supportive, and we were able to circulate coming out resources and information about Fair v. Rumsfeld and the Solomon Amendment broadly throughout the student body via email, fliers, and posters.

Later in the semester, Outlaws participated in the University-wide response to Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. These obscene anti-LGBT protestors were in Ann Arbor in November objecting to an undergraduate production of The Laramie Project and LBGT-inclusive religious organizations. In addition to being on-the-scene of the counter-protest, Outlaws prepared handouts explaining free speech rights and hate crimes laws (please check out these materials on our website), participated in a pledge drive for the non-profit organization Transgender Michigan, and subsidized tickets to the play to ensure that each performance had a packed audience!

In November, Clinical Professor of Law Nick Rine and two student attorneys spoke about their work on a case currently pending in the Sixth Circuit; they are defending an LGBT-asylum seeker who was persecuted in his homeland because of his sexual orientation. They revealed startling insights about the asylum process and the special challenges that LGBT petitioners face when seeking refuge in the United States.

During Winter term, Outlaws is looking forward to two fascinating speakers: Joshua Dressler, the Frank R. Strong Chair in Law at Mortiz College of Law at The Ohio State University, and Erwin Chemerinsky, Alston & Bird Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Duke University. Professor Dressler will be speaking to the law school community about the provocation defense to homicide and "gay panic." The lecture is co-sponsored by the Criminal Law Society. Professor Chemerinsky will debate Eugene Kontorovich, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, about the Solomon Amendment and Fair v. Rumsfeld. This debate is co-sponsored by the Michigan Law School Federalist Society. Each of these lunchtime talks promises to be thought provoking and we expect that they will foster community-wide discussion regarding these important issues.

(back to top)



A Vibrant Social Community
Matt Maddox, 1L Social Chair

The social life of Outlaws is hopping. This year we had the largest incoming class of Outlaws members (including myself) that we've ever had. It has made our events more diverse and our lives a lot more fun. We were welcomed in the fall by our outgoing social chair, Jeff, with a kick-off party celebrating an end to the first week of classes.

By mid-semester, having all settled in, it was time for a celebration. Coming Out Week provided the perfect excuse. As part of the greater University of Michigan LGBT community, we organized a party celebrating Coming Out Week. We invited the entire law school and all of the LGBT groups around the U. We had a great turn out, and we were able to raise some money to help LGBT victims of Hurricane Katrina who have relocated to Houston. It was great to do something good while having a lot of fun.

The first semester began to become a bit stressful as we neared Thanksgiving. To relieve some of the tension, and to enjoy each other as members of a greater family, we had a large Thanksgiving dinner. I helped make my first turkey (as well as my first creamed spinach and mashed sweet potatoes). Everyone in Outlaws brought their favorite dish. The wonderful Megan contributed the use of her home and her kitchen, and Brad, Adam, and Glenn all helped keep the party well fed and lubricated.

Our last event was after our last meeting. It was a showing of the great cult documentary, Paris is Burning, which depicts the vogue scene in Harlem in the 1980's.

For the spring semester, (oh wait, we call it winter semester here) big things are planned, including a celebration of the recent marriage of Denise Brogan, a trip to Stilettos, and some great welcoming parties for next year's prospective students during the two preview weekends in March. Everyone is always welcome to all of our events, and we'd love to see you if you come back to A2 anytime this semester!

(back to top)

[note] Joint Statement / Press Release on FAIR Ruling

March 15, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
General Contact: Brad Rosen, 203-464-0449, brosen@law.harvard.edu

Law School LGBT Student Groups from Across America React to FAIR Ruling
Shifting Their Focus, Members Agree that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Must Go

On March 6, 2006 the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Rumsfeld v. FAIR, ruling that the Solomon Amendment does not violate free speech protections when it compels law schools, in contradiction to their own nondiscrimination policies, to host a discriminatory employer.

The Court's opinion is a disappointment. The opinion concentrates on the technicalities and logistics of on-campus recruiting in order to avoid discussing the real issue. Our law schools' right to free speech is compromised when they are compelled to waive nondiscrimination policies meant to declare emphatically that discrimination against their students will not be tolerated. These policies are not empty words, but an expression of our law schools' commitment to equality--not only for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students, but for students of all races, religions, genders, and nationalities.

Forced by the Court to exempt the military from their policies, our law schools are now unwillingly complicit in the military's discrimination against LGBT servicemembers. To maintain their visible commitment to nondiscrimination against LGBT students, law schools must now respond directly to the military's explicitly discriminatory policy. We take a collective stand against the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy to work toward the full integration of our armed services, and we call on our institutional leaders to join us.

The heart of this issue has never been the Solomon Amendment, but rather "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" itself, a law that is wrong on both a moral and pragmatic level. The policy excludes qualified gay, lesbian, and bisexual men and women from serving their country at a time when the nation may need them the most. In past years, gay, lesbian and bisexual students from our law schools have desired to serve their country in the JAG Corps. If the military truly wants to recruit the best students from the nation's law schools, it should do away with its discriminatory hiring practices rather than compel law schools to accept those practices.

Through its stop-loss program, the military has recognized that it needs every capable servicemember, and yet the military continues to discharge LGBT servicemembers eager to serve their country. Arabic translators, both in short supply and essential to our success the war in Iraq and in the war on terror, continue to be discharged for being gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Many top legal professionals, essential for safeguarding our civil rights while ensuring the military is best able to fight threats to national security, remain unable to apply.

We believe that our universities should challenge this wrong and support bills such as the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, sponsored by Rep. Marty Meehan, D Mass., and 109 co-sponsors, which would repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. If we can no longer maintain equality on our campuses, we must work ever more diligently to end discrimination outside of them.

What you can do to help: Contact your Senator or Representative and urge them to support measures to abolish "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." For other general inquiries or ways to help, contact any of the members of the organizations listed below.

• American University Washington College of Law Lambda
  
• Boston University School of Law
  
• Capital University Law School Bisexual Gay & Lesbian Law Association (BiGLaw)
  
• Chicago-Kent School of Law Lambdas
  
• Columbia University School of Law Outlaws
  
• Cornell Law School Lambda Law
  
• Duke University Outlaws
  
• Georgetown University Law Center Outlaw
  
• Georgia State University College of Law OUTLaw
  
• Harvard Law School Lambda
  
• New York University School of Law OUTLaw
  
• Northwestern University School of Law OUTLaws
  
• Santa Clara University School of Law Bisexual Lesbian and Gay Advocates (BGLAd)
  
• Stanford OUTLAW
  
• University of California Berkley Boalt Hall Queer Caucus
  
• University of California Davis Lambda Law Students Association
  
• University of Chicago Outlaw
  
• University of Michigan Outlaws
  
• University of Pennsylvania Lambda Law
  
• University of San Francisco Pride Law
  
• University of the Pacific McGeorge Lambda Law Students Association
  
• University of Virginia School of Law Lambda Law Alliance
  
• University of Wisconsin Law School QLaw
  
• Washington University School of Law Outlaw
  
• Yale Law School OutLaws
  

[plug] Best Week Ever List of Events

On Tuesday, March 14 we have the opportunity to find the activist within ourselves with two events:

11:00am - 2:00pm, Queers at Play, Central Campus Diag Join the LGBT Commission for some "regular" things, like frisbee, cards and just hanging out. The point: LGBT and Queer people have the same interests, but we continue to lose rights. Join us in solidarity.
sponsored by the LGBT Commission of Michigan Student Assembly

Then,
6:30pm, Everyday Activism, Pendleton Room, 2nd Floor, Michigan Union.
Michael Stevenson will talk about the book Everyday Activism, which he co-edited. Everyday Activism will arm you with the knowledge you need to advocate everyday for the rights of LGBT people. Learn how to answer questions about LGBT people and mental health, marriage and parenting rights, and a host of other salient, current issues. sponsored by the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiative, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and the Rackham Dean Office, in partnership with the Office of LGBTA, Division of Student Affairs.

Wednesday's events:
The Shower of Stoles Project
10:00am - 4:00pm
Canterbury House

LGBTQ and Mental Health: Expression and Art workshop, 2:00p - 6:00p discussion, 5:00p-6:00p Room 4, 1st Floor Michigan League

LGBT Interfaith Service: In the Darkness, Into the Light 5:30pm Canterbury House (to lend your gifts to this service, contact javiergc@umich.edu)

for a complete list of events, descriptions and sponsors, please visit (here)

Please note: Best Week Ever events listed above and on other designated printed and online materials are coordinated by the Office of LGBT Affairs, Division of Student Affairs, and other participating units, departments and student organizations. Best Week Ever events are in no way related to VH1, MTv or any other Viacom affiliates.

Gabriel C. Javier, Assistant Director
Office of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Affairs (here)

[plug] Come OUT and Play Meeting

Just as a reminder, there will be a planning meeting for Come OUT and Play on Wednesday, March 15 at 5pm in the LGBTA Affairs Office. We ask that you send me an email if you plan on attending. We would like to get a rough estimate on the number of people who are planning on being there so we can make enough hand outs and decide if we need a bigger room!

The actual event is still scheduled for Saturday, April 8 at Island Park. The event should be taking up the better part of the day...and we are currently working on having local companies sponsor food, drinks, entertainment, prizes, etc. This planning meeting will give all of you the opportunity to ask questions, find out how you can get involved, and figure out ways for your respective organizations to help out Lambda Grads in this fabulous event.

Thank you very much!

Patrick Zylka, Lambda Grads Representative

[news] Catholic Charities Halt Adoptions in Boston

The Boston Archdiocese's Catholic Charities said Friday it would stop providing adoption services because of a state law allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children.

Gov. Mitt Romney said he planned to file a bill that would let religious organizations seek an exemption from the state's anti-discrimination laws to provide adoption services.

"This is a sad day for neglected and abandoned children," Romney said in a statement. "It's a mistake for our laws to put the rights of adults over the needs of children."

Full Story: (here)

-----
Oh, Mitt . . . It was a sad day when you were elected, but it's even sadder that you don't respect the Mass. constitution and what it requires enough to see that the Church's own bigotry is what's at issue not the needs of adults v. the needs of children. Plus, if you really cared about children you'd realize that the gays are often the ones who adopt the children that no one else wants.

[news] Columbia Creates Sexuality/Gender Clinic

I wish we could report that Michigan was leading this charge, but Columbia has announced that it is creating the nation's first clinical program in sexuality and gender law.

Congrats and great work, guys.

(link to article)

[note] New Items in Our Store

If you love gay people, this is the shirt for you.


Show your love for the only Justice who claims to have a consistent interpretive methodology with this stylish tee! (The text reads "Scalia keeps it old school.")


There's nothing better than seeing O'Connor reluctantly cast the fifth vote on a controversial case, only to find herself dominating that area of law forever. Now you can share the joy with everyone you meet.


Gay Agenda postcards. They read...

1. to secure equal marriage rights
for the protection of our families

2. to openly serve in the military
for the protection of our country

3. to challenge stereotypes
for the protection of ourselves

4. to provide community services
for the protection of queer youth

[note] A few FAIR observations...

The Court may have been right that the law schools were asking for an extension of the expressive association doctrine (sort of a trite observation if you ask me--a case that makes it to the Supreme Court is rarely a simple application of clearly established law to familiar facts). But the expressive association claim was only one of the law schools' three claims, any one of which alone would have been sufficient to find a First Amendment violation. (As you know, the 3rd Circuit decided for the law schools on all three.)

Among the Court's several disingenuous moves, the ones I found most troubling are in the Court's treatment of the O'Brien symbolic speech doctrine (16-17). Under the earlier version of the solomon statute, the schools were only required to provide "access" to the military (not necessarily equal access). Under that version, many schools made purely symbolic gestures like assigning the military interviewers to rooms in a different building or allowing students to protest the recruiting events.

In response, Congress amended the statute to require equal access, precisely in order to quash any such symbolic acts. Why is this not a statute regulating symbolic speech, you might ask? Well, conduct is not considered symbolic speech unless it is "inherently expressive." The Court distinguishes Texas v. Johnson (flag burning is "inherently expressive" conduct and thus receives 1st Amendment protection) by arguing that "inherently expressive" means that the message you are expressing is "overwhelmingly apparent" by your conduct alone.

This is where the logic gets messy. The Court says that the law schools' non-discrimination message is not "overwhelmingly apparent" because "accompan[ying] explanatory speech" is necessary to understand the message behind the law schools' conduct. True enough. But don't blink now, because the Court just ratcheted up the standard, by a significant degree, without owning up to it. If there were truly a "no explanatory speech" requirement to the "inherently expressive" standard, then almost nothing, and certainly not flag burning, would be inherently expressive conduct. People burn flags for a variety of purposes, including to retire them with dignity. When a guy burns a flag, his message could be anything ranging from "stop the war" to "God Rest Old Glory." Or he could just get a kick out of burning shit. Without some additional indication, like a protest sign, a chant, or a recitation of the pledge, you'd be pretty clueless as to the intended message.

In spite of the fact that the "no explanatory speech" requirement is totally without precedent, and in spite of the fact that the Court never explains how flag burning could possibly meet this higher standard, the Court flippantly applies it to the law schools' conduct. Of course, the Court is right in the sense that, if someone grew up in a bubble, made it to law school never hearing of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and noticed that the military interviewers were sitting down the hall from everyone else, he or she might not understand why, absent some sort of explanatory context. But utter lack of explanatory context is simply not the legal standard, until ... well, this case.

It's fine by me if the Justices want to invent new interpretations of law in order to make their preordained conclusions seem plausible. They are the Supreme Court, after all. That's what they do. I just wish they would be open about changing the law instead of pretending like we are the ones "attempt[ing] to stretch" the First Amendment "well beyond" its intended reach.

The whole opinion, written by Roberts, reads as if the Court began its inquiry already knowing what it wanted to find. I'm disappointed. My mistake was letting myself hope that our new and esteemed Chief Justice would live up to his reputation as a straight shooter.

Justin

[event] Preview Weekend Party!

You now have plans for Friday night.

All the Outlaws, come out and meet all the Prospectives!!

All the Prospectives coming for Preview Weekend, come out and meet the Outlaws!!

Friday, March 9th
Meet at 9:30 pm at the steps of the Reading Room in the Law Quad

We'll head to Bab's Underground Lounge
(213 S Ashley St near the intersection of S Ashley and Washington)

[event] Outlaws General Body Meeting

Tomorrow
Wednesday, March 8, 2006

5:30 - 6:30 PM
150HH

Topics of discussion:

Preview Weekend Details!
Discussion of a new eboard position, University Liaison.
And of course, FAIR...

We will have a visit from Dean Caminker. He's going to chat with us about the Solomon Amendment, DADT, and anything else that is on your mind.

Food too!
See you tomorrow!

[note] Letter from Our Dean

Dear students:

As a matter of faculty policy, the Law School makes its Office of Career Services available only to employers who certify in writing that they do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, creed, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, handicap, or Vietnam-era veteran status. The faculty has adopted this policy in order to nurture within the Law Quadrangle a community that values and practices mutual respect and inclusiveness.

Congress has adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" rule that denies employment in the military to gay men, lesbians and bisexuals whose sexual orientation becomes known. Under the Law School's stated policy, therefore, military agencies would be denied access to the recruiting and placement facilities of the Office of Career Services. This decision would in no way reflect any disrespect directed towards, or even failure affirmatively to value, either the military in general or the people serving in it. Rather, it would reflect merely an across-the-board, consistent application of our nondiscrimination policy. However, while the employment policies governing the United States Armed Forces do not meet the Law School's requirement that employers who interview here refrain from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, for many years federal law -- specifically the so-called "Solomon Amendment" -- has effectively prevented the Law School from applying this requirement to military recruiters, including those for the Judge Advocate General Corps.

As I reported to you by email several months ago, this term the Supreme Court took up the question whether the Solomon Amendment violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Court issued its decision today in Rumsfeld v. FAIR, and in an unanimous opinion (without Justice Alito's participation) the Court rejected the constitutional challenge. Thus the Solomon Amendment remains binding and enforceable on UMLS as well as all law schools and other university units across the nation.

This feels like an appropriate time to remind the Law School community that the fact that representatives of military agencies have and will be interviewing at the Law School should not be misunderstood to reflect a decision by the School to endorse the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in particular, or discrimination in general. I want to reiterate the strong commitment of the faculty, administrators and staff of the Law School to making this an inclusive and supportive place for all of our students, regardless of their sexual orientation or other aspects of identity or belief. In particular, notwithstanding our inability to enforce fully our nondiscrimination norms in this context, gay and lesbian students are an integral and welcome part of our community.


Evan Caminker
Dean and Professor of Law
University of Michigan Law School
625 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
ph: 734-764-0514; fax: 734-763-1055

[news] FAIR loses, bigly.

It's important to note that this case wasn't about the merits of DADT or about hating gay people or any of that crap. This case was a First Amendment challenge under a theory of expressive association (i.e., the people we allow in our group sends a message to the world and no law should be able to force us to associate with anyone we don't want to), the same theory that the Boy Scouts used to keep out gay scout masters in Dale.

Here's the syllabus for this case, I've saved you the trouble of looking it up.

Held: Because Congress could require law schools to provide equal access to military recruiters without violating the schools' freedoms of speech and association, the Third Circuit erred in holding that the Solomon Amendment likely violates the First Amendment. Pp. ---- - ----5-21.

1. [boring and omitted]

2. Under the Solomon Amendment, a university must allow equal access for military recruiters in order to receive certain federal funds. Although there are limits on Congress' ability to condition the receipt of funds, see, e.g., United States v. American Library Assn., Inc., 539 U.S. 194, 210, 123 S.Ct. 2297, 156 L.Ed.2d 221, a funding condition cannot be unconstitutional if it could be constitutionally imposed directly. Because the First Amendment would not prevent Congress from directly imposing the Solomon Amendment's access requirement, the statute does not place an unconstitutional condition on the receipt of federal funds. Pp. ---- - ----8-20.

(a) As a general matter, the Solomon Amendment regulates conduct, not speech. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeals concluded that the statute violates law schools' freedom of speech in a number of ways. First, the law schools must provide military recruiters with some assistance clearly involving speech, such as sending e-mails and distributing flyers, if they provide such services to other recruiters. This speech is subject to First Amendment scrutiny, but the compelled speech here is plainly incidental to the statute's regulation of conduct. Compelling a law school that sends e-mails for other recruiters to send one for a military recruiter is simply not the same as forcing a student to pledge allegiance to the flag, West Virginia Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 63 S.Ct. 1178, 87 L.Ed. 1628, or forcing a Jehovah's Witness to display a particular motto on his license plate, Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705, 97 S.Ct. 1428, 51 L.Ed.2d 752, and it trivializes the freedom protected in Barnette and Wooley to suggest that it is.

Second, that military recruiters are, to some extent, speaking while on campus does not mean that the Solomon Amendment unconstitutionally requires laws schools to accommodate the military's message by including those recruiters in interviews and recruiting receptions. This Court has found compelled-speech violations where the complaining speaker's own message was affected by the speech it was forced to accommodate. See, e.g., Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc., 515 U.S. 557, 566, 115 S.Ct. 2338, 132 L.Ed.2d 487. Here, however, the schools are not speaking when they host interviews and recruiting receptions. They facilitate recruiting to assist their students in obtaining jobs. Thus, a law school's recruiting services lack the expressive quality of, for example, the parade in Hurley. Nothing about recruiting suggests that law schools agree with any speech by recruiters, and nothing in the Solomon Amendment restricts what they may say about the military's policies.

Third, freedom of speech can be violated by expressive conduct, but the expressive nature of the conduct regulated by the Solomon Amendment does not bring that conduct within the First Amendment's protection. Unlike flag burning, see Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 109 S.Ct. 2533, 105 L.Ed.2d 342, the conduct here is not so inherently expressive that it warrants protection under O'Brien. Before adoption of the Solomon Amendment's equal-access requirement, law schools expressed their disagreement with the military by treating military recruiters differently from other recruiters. These actions were expressive not because of the conduct but because of the speech that accompanied that conduct. Moreover, even if the Solomon Amendment were regarded as regulating expressive conduct, it would be constitutional under O'Brien. Pp. ---- - ----8-18.

(b) The Solomon Amendment also does not violate the law schools' freedom of expressive association. Unlike Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640, 120 S.Ct. 2446, 147 L.Ed.2d 554, where the Boy Scouts' freedom of expressive association was violated when a state law required the organization to accept a homosexual scoutmaster, the statute here does not force a law school " 'to accept members it does not desire,' " id., at 648. Law schools "associate" with military recruiters in the sense that they interact with them, but recruiters are not part of the school. They are outsiders who come onto campus for the limited purpose of trying to hire students-not to become members of the school's expressive association. The freedom of expressive association protects more than a group's membership decisions, reaching activities that affect a group's ability to express its message by making group membership less attractive. But the Solomon Amendment has no similar effect on a law school's associational rights. Students and faculty are free to associate to voice their disapproval of the military's message; nothing about the statute affects the composition of the group by making membership less desirable. Pp. ---- - ----18-20.

*3 390 F.3d 219, reversed and remanded.

[news] Ropes & Gray Update

From Our Friends:

Ropes & Gray has dropped its representation of the Catholic Church on the gay adoption issue:

"In another development yesterday, a major Boston law firm, Ropes & Gray, said it will no longer be doing legal work to assist the bishops in their effort to halt the gay adoptions, a representative of the firm said.

Ropes & Gray had been hired to look into how Catholic Charities agencies could find a legal exemption from a state law requiring them to handle gay adoptions. Their work had focused on the legal options, but it was never clear they would actually be in charge of political or legal efforts to secure an exemption.

But yesterday, the law firm representative, who asked to remain anonymous because the firm does not generally talk about clients' cases, said Ropes & Gray will no longer be doing any more legal work on the gay adoption issue."

For More Information: (here)

[note] Spring Break is Sadly Behind Us

Welcome back to everyone who trotted the globe for Spring Break. Yes, our Spring Break was in February--we're painfully aware that no where in the world is February considered Spring except at Michigan.

Welcome home just the same.

[plug] Flames On Ice and Hot Chocolate Social

Flames On Ice and Hot Chocolate Social
Flames on Ice: Yost Arena Open Skate
Thursday, March 16
8:00pm * 9:45pm
Yost Arena
1000 South State Street

Hot Chocolate Social
9:45pm
Office of LGBT Affairs, 3rd Floor Michigan Union