One hundred and seventy-five lawyers, law students and advocates
rose to their feet and roared with applause in a small lecture hall
at the UCLA School of Law on Friday, in response to the Williams
Institute’s “Fifth Annual Update on Sexual Orientation
Law and Public Policy” keynote address on the status of
policy regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
The newly inaugurated Williams Institute, formerly known as the
Williams Project, provides information to judges, lawyers and the
public through research and scholarship. The update started with an
introduction by law Professor Stanley Morrison and former Dean of
Stanford Law School Kathleen Sullivan, who introduced how sexual
orientation laws have progressed in the past decades.
“The younger generation no longer gets what the fuss is
all about,” Sullivan said. “There is a cultural change
that goes with legal change. While there is much in the legal
structure that is gained from (the show) “˜Will &
Grace,’ we need to thank a different Will and Grace: the will
of lawyers and the grace of judges.”
Following the keynote address, three panels discussed recent
developments in the area of sexual orientation.
The first panel, called California 2006, consisted of four
speakers from the Republican Party, a political consulting firm,
the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the National Black
Justice Coalition. Discussing recent laws and ballots, the speakers
expressed the importance of educating the public.
“A third of the public support us, another third is
determined to oppose us, and the last third is fair-minded but does
not know the issues,” said Patrick Guerriero, executive
director of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of LGBT supporters
within the party. “We need to give them the tools to
understand.”
The next two panels were concurrent, with one analyzing the
details of the Lawrence v. Texas case, which resulted in the ruling
of Texas sodomy laws as unconstitutional, and the other presenting
statistics on LGBT demographics and public opinion.
During the second panel, Williams Project senior research fellow
Gary Gates explained a report released on Feb. 16 analyzing Census
2000 data to show that California’s same-sex couples reflect
racial and ethnic diversity, with increasing numbers of couples
raising children and facing economic challenges.
“It is hard to know whether or not the report will change
public opinion, but it does highlight the matter and help to
clarify the real issues associated with same-sex couples,”
Gates said.
The majority of people who attended were lawyers who could
attain Continuing Legal Education credit while keeping up-to-date
on the advances in law.
“The update offers a different perspective on law from
simply working in the law firm because it’s a more scholarly
interpretation of information rather than just practice,”
said Lambda Legal lawyer Estuardo Ponciano.
Many law students and LGBT rights advocates were grateful for
the opportunity to hear from speakers who actually worked in the
front line.
“Even if it doesn’t affect you personally, everybody
has family or friends who are gay, bisexual or transgender,”
said first-year law student Lisa Concoff. “It surprises me
that more people wouldn’t want to come to get updated and
find out what is going on.”
The night’s events ended with the final round of the
“Second Annual National Sexual Orientation Law Moot Court
Competition” between Syracuse University and UC Davis, as
well as the inauguration of the Williams Institute.