We are holding our first meeting of the year on September 2, 2010, noon at WH 2B
Free Lunch.
Hope to see you all there.
Miranda Freitas
USD Pride Law co-President
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
A federal district court declared DOMA unconstitutional today,
Noting that it interfered with a state's right to define marriage. The court also noted that it required a state to discriminate against its citizens when it came to various benefits.
Below is the full length article.
A federal judge in Boston has ruled unconstitutional the portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that limits federal benefits to straight couples even in states that recognize gay marriage. This is just the first inning in a long game that will eventually end up in the Supreme Court. The decision there will depend on whether the conservatives really believe in states' rights.
For almost 20 years, one of the pivotal debates on the Supreme Court has been the role of states' rights in limiting the power of the federal government. In cases on issues ranging from the possession of handguns in school zones to violence against women, the conservatives on the Court have argued that Congress cannot assert its power to regulate because doing so would encroach on "state sovereignty." According to the conservatives, areas of "traditional state concern" are protected by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution.
The contours of the 10th Amendment limitation have never been clear, mostly because the 10th Amendment itself is not clear. (It says that whatever powers the federal government does not have are left to the people or to states; it punts on what those powers actually are.) But one thing has been clear in the opinions of the conservatives on the Court: family law -- marriage, divorce, child custody -- is an area of traditional state concern. In both the handgun case (United States v. Lopez) and the violence against women case (United States v. Morrison), then-Chief Justice Rehnquist cited the federal regulation of family law as one of a parade of horribles that would arise if federal power got out of hand.
The federal judge in Boston struck down DOMA using these precedents, saying that "DOMA plainly intrudes on a core area of state sovereignty." The court also cited history, recognizing that "State control over marital status determinations is a convention rooted in the early history of the United States, predating even the American Revolution." The court emphasized the Supreme Court's language that "the whole subject of the domestic relations of husband and wife, parent and child, belongs to the laws of the States and not to the laws of the United States."
This reasoning poses a real dilemma for states righters.
Up to now, the 10th Amendment has been used almost exclusively by conservatives who want to limit the federal government's power to protect our environment, restrict firearms, or punish racial discrimination. And it's been a powerful rhetorical tool -- it's been used to good effect by the Tea Party, for example, in fighting health care reform and Wall Street bailouts.
But the DOMA case turns the ideology around. The 10th Amendment is being used for a politically progressive goal -- to fight against federally mandated discrimination in an area of traditional state concern.
When it gets to the Supreme Court, if the Court is consistent with its previous statements about family law being out of bounds for the federal government to regulate, then DOMA should lose.
DOMA should lose for an additional reason. In the 1995 handgun case, Justice Anthony Kennedy -- always the swing vote -- explained his dedication to states' rights by referencing Justice Louis Brandeis's famous aphorism that states can serve as "laboratories" of democracy, trying "novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." To Kennedy, the handgun statute needed to be struck down because it "forecloses the States from experimenting and exercising their own judgment in an area to which States lay claim by right of history and expertise."
This same rationale works perfectly as a reason to question DOMA. In Massachusetts, the "experiment" of gay marriage has been a success. (It has the second lowest divorce rate in the country). The laboratory has worked, and it has shown the way for an increasing number of states to provide equality for their own citizens.
- The Huffington Post, July 9, 2010.
Below is the full length article.
A federal judge in Boston has ruled unconstitutional the portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that limits federal benefits to straight couples even in states that recognize gay marriage. This is just the first inning in a long game that will eventually end up in the Supreme Court. The decision there will depend on whether the conservatives really believe in states' rights.
For almost 20 years, one of the pivotal debates on the Supreme Court has been the role of states' rights in limiting the power of the federal government. In cases on issues ranging from the possession of handguns in school zones to violence against women, the conservatives on the Court have argued that Congress cannot assert its power to regulate because doing so would encroach on "state sovereignty." According to the conservatives, areas of "traditional state concern" are protected by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution.
The contours of the 10th Amendment limitation have never been clear, mostly because the 10th Amendment itself is not clear. (It says that whatever powers the federal government does not have are left to the people or to states; it punts on what those powers actually are.) But one thing has been clear in the opinions of the conservatives on the Court: family law -- marriage, divorce, child custody -- is an area of traditional state concern. In both the handgun case (United States v. Lopez) and the violence against women case (United States v. Morrison), then-Chief Justice Rehnquist cited the federal regulation of family law as one of a parade of horribles that would arise if federal power got out of hand.
The federal judge in Boston struck down DOMA using these precedents, saying that "DOMA plainly intrudes on a core area of state sovereignty." The court also cited history, recognizing that "State control over marital status determinations is a convention rooted in the early history of the United States, predating even the American Revolution." The court emphasized the Supreme Court's language that "the whole subject of the domestic relations of husband and wife, parent and child, belongs to the laws of the States and not to the laws of the United States."
This reasoning poses a real dilemma for states righters.
Up to now, the 10th Amendment has been used almost exclusively by conservatives who want to limit the federal government's power to protect our environment, restrict firearms, or punish racial discrimination. And it's been a powerful rhetorical tool -- it's been used to good effect by the Tea Party, for example, in fighting health care reform and Wall Street bailouts.
But the DOMA case turns the ideology around. The 10th Amendment is being used for a politically progressive goal -- to fight against federally mandated discrimination in an area of traditional state concern.
When it gets to the Supreme Court, if the Court is consistent with its previous statements about family law being out of bounds for the federal government to regulate, then DOMA should lose.
DOMA should lose for an additional reason. In the 1995 handgun case, Justice Anthony Kennedy -- always the swing vote -- explained his dedication to states' rights by referencing Justice Louis Brandeis's famous aphorism that states can serve as "laboratories" of democracy, trying "novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." To Kennedy, the handgun statute needed to be struck down because it "forecloses the States from experimenting and exercising their own judgment in an area to which States lay claim by right of history and expertise."
This same rationale works perfectly as a reason to question DOMA. In Massachusetts, the "experiment" of gay marriage has been a success. (It has the second lowest divorce rate in the country). The laboratory has worked, and it has shown the way for an increasing number of states to provide equality for their own citizens.
- The Huffington Post, July 9, 2010.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
and now for something completely different...
The next time someone asks you, "Hey, howdja get to be a homosexual anyway?" tell them, "Homosexuals are chosen first on talent, then interview... then the swimsuit and evening gown competition pretty much gets rid of the rest of them." ~Karen Williams
Sen. Jim DeMint Fought a Lesbian Judge ... and the Lesbian Judge Won
You can't keep a good woman down. Or, in the case of Marisa Demeo, you can't keep a good woman off the federal bench. That's the lesson Sen. Jim DeMint and the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) learned this week, as the U.S. Senate finally voted on Demeo's nomination for a seat on the D.C. Superior Court.
Sen. DeMint and the TVC worked hard to keep Demeo off the bench. Why? Did she do something illegal in her past? Did she speak ill of America? Steal the last cookie from the cookie jar?
Nope. But Demeo is openly lesbian, and for DeMint and the TVC, that was enough to treat her nomination like the plague. A letter circulated by the TVC became public this week, where they called on U.S. Senators to delay, stall and eventually kill Demeo's nomination to the court because of her lesbian ways.
"As an open, radical lesbian, Demeo has openly condemned the effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage as a one-man, one-woman union," the group wrote. "Demeo supports gay marriage, claiming it is a constitutional right. She also claims that LGBT individuals are equal to racial minorities and can claim protection as minorities under our civil rights laws."
The horror! A judge who thinks gay marriage is a constitutional right. Who does she think she is, Ted Olson?
Sen. DeMint had been the lead U.S. senator holding up Demeo's nomination. Indeed, Demeo was nominated by the Obama administration a year ago, becoming one of the first LGBT nominations put forward by Obama. But 525,600 minutes later, she still hadn't been confirmed.
Until last night, when the U.S. Senate finally got its ship in order and moved to clear her nomination. The vote? 'Twas 66-32, largely along party lines (although kudos to the half dozen or so Republicans that stood up to Sen. Jim DeMint and the TVC, and recognized that a jurist should be judged on her ability to lead from the bench, not by who she sleeps with or loves).
Meanwhile, here's looking forward to seeing "D.C. Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo" on some business cards. We'll be sure to send one to Sen. Jim DeMint's office.
Sen. DeMint and the TVC worked hard to keep Demeo off the bench. Why? Did she do something illegal in her past? Did she speak ill of America? Steal the last cookie from the cookie jar?
Nope. But Demeo is openly lesbian, and for DeMint and the TVC, that was enough to treat her nomination like the plague. A letter circulated by the TVC became public this week, where they called on U.S. Senators to delay, stall and eventually kill Demeo's nomination to the court because of her lesbian ways.
"As an open, radical lesbian, Demeo has openly condemned the effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage as a one-man, one-woman union," the group wrote. "Demeo supports gay marriage, claiming it is a constitutional right. She also claims that LGBT individuals are equal to racial minorities and can claim protection as minorities under our civil rights laws."
The horror! A judge who thinks gay marriage is a constitutional right. Who does she think she is, Ted Olson?
Sen. DeMint had been the lead U.S. senator holding up Demeo's nomination. Indeed, Demeo was nominated by the Obama administration a year ago, becoming one of the first LGBT nominations put forward by Obama. But 525,600 minutes later, she still hadn't been confirmed.
Until last night, when the U.S. Senate finally got its ship in order and moved to clear her nomination. The vote? 'Twas 66-32, largely along party lines (although kudos to the half dozen or so Republicans that stood up to Sen. Jim DeMint and the TVC, and recognized that a jurist should be judged on her ability to lead from the bench, not by who she sleeps with or loves).
Meanwhile, here's looking forward to seeing "D.C. Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo" on some business cards. We'll be sure to send one to Sen. Jim DeMint's office.
Monday, April 12, 2010
FAMOUS POLITICO DYKE COMES TO USD!!!!
Don't miss the opportunity to hear ELIZABETH BIRCH on Wednesday! Google her and find out how great she is!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
THE BIG WIND DOWN
Thanks for coming to the last Pride Law meeting and wishing me well on my new endeavor. It has been a real privilege to advise this group for a decade or so.
I was so amazed to see the energy and enthusiasm for keeping the club going into the future. I can rest easy that it will have a long and happy life!
I look forward to reading great things about you all, and seeing you at events and Pride Law pool parties.
My very fondest wishes for you all,
John
Live the life, and walk the talk.
I was so amazed to see the energy and enthusiasm for keeping the club going into the future. I can rest easy that it will have a long and happy life!
I look forward to reading great things about you all, and seeing you at events and Pride Law pool parties.
My very fondest wishes for you all,
John
Live the life, and walk the talk.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Annual Pride Law Attorney-Student Mixer
Time has come again for Pride Law's Annual Attorney-Student Mixer! As one of Pride Law's most popular events, this is a fantastic opportunity to network and get to know prominent members of San Diego's GLBTQQA community.
Appetizers and graduate-level beverages are provided.
ALL students are welcome to attend and mingle with these distinguished San Diego judges and attorneys.
When: Thursday, 18 March 2010 from 6.00PM – 9.00PM in the Faculty Reading Room (right after the Dean’s Mixer!).
Co-sponsored with Career Services.
Friday, March 5, 2010
VOICES ON DIVERSITY STARS OUR OWN JESSIE Z!!!!
Take a look at the new diversity & inclusion conversation-starter -- VOICES ON DIVERSITY -- an interview video that looks at what different people at USD have to say about the topic.
Jessie gives a delightful and impassioned clip in Grace Courtroom!
Thanks to her and everyone who participated in the project. It is on the USD web page's diversity pages and will be used in discussion groups, classrooms, and forums on our campus.
This was a project I worked on as a member of the President's Advisory Board for Inclusion & Diversity. I loved it!
Jessie gives a delightful and impassioned clip in Grace Courtroom!
Thanks to her and everyone who participated in the project. It is on the USD web page's diversity pages and will be used in discussion groups, classrooms, and forums on our campus.
This was a project I worked on as a member of the President's Advisory Board for Inclusion & Diversity. I loved it!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Speaker of the Assembly is Gay!!!!
The first openly gay lawmaker to lead either house of the California Legislature was sworn in Monday as speaker of the state Assembly, taking over at a time of fiscal turmoil and partisan divisions.
Democrat John Perez of Los Angeles said creating jobs as the state struggles with an unemployment rate above 12 percent will be his legislative priority.
Go, Johnny, go!!!!!! http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_14492516
Democrat John Perez of Los Angeles said creating jobs as the state struggles with an unemployment rate above 12 percent will be his legislative priority.
Go, Johnny, go!!!!!! http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_14492516
You can marry who you want in DC
Big news! We get equal treatment under the laws of Washington, D.C. This is cool. Check it out here.
Washington is now the sixth place in the nation where same-sex marriages can take place. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont also issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Washington is now the sixth place in the nation where same-sex marriages can take place. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont also issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Friday, February 5, 2010
You get pizza and popcorn, too!
Take the movie poll that NLG is offering on the SBA web site. You get to choose a movie they will be screening. Free pizza and popcorn. VOTE!
http://www.sbausd.com/
http://www.sbausd.com/
Thursday, February 4, 2010
SAME SEX MARRIAGE TRIAL - THE MOVIE!
LA filmmakers have recreated the Prop A trial using actors reciting the transcript verbatim! Check it out!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
WHY DO THE BIRDS GO ON SINGING?
Don't they know it is the end of the world? It ended when you said...goodbye.
It is with deep sadness that I say goodbye to the ever-handsome, steadfast friend, and connoisseur of the good life, STANLEY KEITH PEARCE – June 13, 1928 - February 2, 2010.
Stanley was married to Frank Weston, who for a turbulent decade was Pride Law's biggest supporter and defender, and who worked tirelessly for the addition of sexual orientation to the University's official nondiscrimination policy. Frank was the fiesty LRC law librarian who took our issues right to the top and demanded that this University have a conscience when it came to ensuring the rights of its LGBT students, faculty, and staff. With Frank's leadership on this issue, we prevailed.
Stanley was also a law librarian, working at O'Melveny and Myers in Los Angeles for almost 30 years When he and Frank met 39 years ago, they joined their lives and together traveled the world, drank the finest wines, and defied a cultural stereotype of how gay men were supposed to be. They were married in October, 2008, and cherished the right to call each other husband.
It was my great privilege to know him. Goodbye, my friend, and I toast to you: salute! skoal! cheers!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
WHO'S APATHETIC?
Just thought I'd ask.
You can either sign below, or do something.
Whatever. Go study or waste time. I don't care.
I am apathetic: _________________________
HOMOPHOBIA THRIVES AT NOTRE DAME
Can it be true that Notre Dame is the only top-twenty university to not have sexual orientation in their official nondiscrimination policy? Read the story here.
Days after a cartoon in the school newspaper that advocated beating gay people into vegetables, a renewed effort is under way to get some official university protection. It seems like a huge uphill battle since the university does not even recognize or allow LGBT groups on campus.
Besides our reaching out with a letter of protest to the administration - and letters of support to the LGBT students, faculty, administrators and staff - what about asking our own university leadership for help on this? Just saying.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Who's Up for WinterPride 2010???
Check it out, bois and goils, WinterPride at Whistler -- OMG!
Named the Number 1 Gay Ski Event by Gay.com and PlanetOut! (how many gay ski events are there??)
Yes, to the tune of Getting what I came for...on the dance floor, dance floor...!!!!
you too can ski the slopes by day and party by night at the fabulous resorts.
Oh, and you can get married there too. www.vs.gov.bc.ca/marriage/howto.html to learn details about marriage licenses and other information.
Named the Number 1 Gay Ski Event by Gay.com and PlanetOut! (how many gay ski events are there??)
Yes, to the tune of Getting what I came for...on the dance floor, dance floor...!!!!
you too can ski the slopes by day and party by night at the fabulous resorts.
Oh, and you can get married there too. www.vs.gov.bc.ca/marriage/howto.html to learn details about marriage licenses and other information.
USD MOOT CT TEAM TROUNCES COMPETITION!!
Greetings from the trenches - so very proud to have attended the 6th Annual Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law & Policy Moot Court Competition.
30+ teams participated from all over the country! Teammates Jen Kopfstein and W. James Hua performed ably and made us proud.
First round against Hofstra -- their brief was strong, but would their oral abilities withstand the relentless beating from Kopfstein and Hua? Not a chance. They crumbled.
Second round against UNLV. Their brief was either brilliant or incomprehensible, we couldn't tell which. They looked sharp - two strapping men with brilliant smiles. Would Kopfstein and Hua have met their match? Silly you! Of course not -- K & H triumphed again.
Unfortunately, their aggregate scores were not enough to land them in the top 8, but we were certain that K&H were probably close and probably in the top half of the draw. Best brief was won by NYU, but K&H had given them a run for their money as well.
As we left UCLA's campus tired but content, the sun shone like a beacon to bring us back home. We rejoiced with babyback ribs and beer and tales of outwitting your opponent...what more could you ask for. The thrill of this year's competition only whetted our appetite for more -- who will bring back the trophies next year??!
30+ teams participated from all over the country! Teammates Jen Kopfstein and W. James Hua performed ably and made us proud.
First round against Hofstra -- their brief was strong, but would their oral abilities withstand the relentless beating from Kopfstein and Hua? Not a chance. They crumbled.
Second round against UNLV. Their brief was either brilliant or incomprehensible, we couldn't tell which. They looked sharp - two strapping men with brilliant smiles. Would Kopfstein and Hua have met their match? Silly you! Of course not -- K & H triumphed again.
Unfortunately, their aggregate scores were not enough to land them in the top 8, but we were certain that K&H were probably close and probably in the top half of the draw. Best brief was won by NYU, but K&H had given them a run for their money as well.
As we left UCLA's campus tired but content, the sun shone like a beacon to bring us back home. We rejoiced with babyback ribs and beer and tales of outwitting your opponent...what more could you ask for. The thrill of this year's competition only whetted our appetite for more -- who will bring back the trophies next year??!
Friday, January 29, 2010
OMG! Gay football fans??!!
CBS has rejected an ad for gay-dating site ManCrunch.com for air during the Super Bowl, saying the ad, which depicts two men kissing, "is not within the network's broadcast standards for Super Bowl Sunday." ManCrunch spokeswoman Elissa Buchter said, "You see ads for erectile dysfunction morning, noon and night. It's discriminatory that they won't show this." The Hollywood Reporter (free content)/Live Feed blog (1/29)
PRIDE LAW MEETING BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER
It was great seeing so many of you and your friends at the meeting yesterday! So much is happening around us every day, the world is turning and the demands of school are pulling at you. So I really appreciate it when you take time out to be with your fellow Pride Law-ers.
Solidarity. Sharing. Listening. Feeling. Cocktails. We have evidence.
That's what makes us so special. ;o>
PROP 8 TRIAL WRAPS UP - SORT OF
Testimony in the federal trial of California's Proposition 8 constitutional marriage ban has concluded, and the trial has gone on hiatus to allow Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker time to review briefs and evidence. Closing arguments have yet to be scheduled, but will probably be in a month or so.
Read more about this in the New York Times, here.
Military to offer plan to end DA/DT
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will brief a Senate panel on the Pentagon's recommendation for how to repeal the military gay ban on Tuesday. Although details were not forthcoming, the Pentagon is said to prefer to change the policy gradually. President Barack Obama, during Wednesday's State of the Union, pledged to make a priority of ending the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy this year.
This is going to be a year when DA/DT is going to be heavily debated in the news. Our panel presentation will be timely indeed. Read more here
Friday, January 22, 2010
Prop. 8 trial Day 9: Live coverage from the courtroom
Prof says research shows gays and lesbians don't choose their sexual identities
Plaintiffs lawyers are already done questioning their final witness, UC-Davis psychology prof. Gregory Herek, who testified that research shows gays and lesbians do not choose their sexual identities, as same-sex marriage opponents suggest. And he also said they are subject to social stigma.
Check it out here!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
First (known?) transgender appointees illustrates need for greater equality
Amanda Simpson begins her new position this week as a senior technical adviser with the Department of Commerce. Who says this administration is not making a difference?
Trouble for throwing out DA/DT
Key House Democrat doesn't want to lift military gay ban
U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who helped create the military gay ban and is considered the top House Democrat for military issues, has come out against overturning the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy because of the potential for "disruption" of campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I am personally not for changing the law," Skelton told C-SPAN in a "Newsmakers" interview scheduled to air Sunday. The Hill (1/15)
U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who helped create the military gay ban and is considered the top House Democrat for military issues, has come out against overturning the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy because of the potential for "disruption" of campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I am personally not for changing the law," Skelton told C-SPAN in a "Newsmakers" interview scheduled to air Sunday. The Hill (1/15)
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