Course Description:
An overview of legal issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity, including: employment discrimination; family law issues, including marriage, domestic partnership, child custody and adoption; school-based issues, including anti-gay peer harassment, gay student clubs, and the rights of transsexual students; first amendment issues; and immigration and asylum. In addition to providing an overview of the gay and transgender civil rights movements, the course provides students with a foundation in several basic constitutional doctrines (privacy/substantive due process, equal protection, and the first amendment). The emphasis is on close readings of key cases, as well as on exploring a variety of doctrinal themes, such as the intersection of gender- and sexual orientation-based discrimination, the use of social science research in litigation, and the role of morality in law.
