The UT School of Law's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student association, OUTLaw, will host a conference today on national, state and personal legal questions affecting this demographic and their families in Texas.
Panelists will discuss three areas of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender legal questions: legal and legislative strategy, transgender issues and immigration and asylum. The conference is an opportunity for students and practitioners to stay up-to-date on gay legal issues but also serves as an opportunity to network, said OUTLaw president and law student Matt McChesney.
"Since the law school doesn't have any specific recruiting events for GLBTs, this event is our big recruiting event," McChesney said. "We specifically invite law firms that have good, strong diversity statements."
Kenneth Upton, a senior staff attorney for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization Lambda Legal will speak on the legal and legislative strategy panel. He said even historically conservative firms are interested in hiring attorneys with an interest in these issues.
"If you want to practice in any of the areas involving sexual minorities, there are lots of opportunities to be that specialized," Upton said.
He said many attorneys with special interests in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender litigation are not gay or transgender.
"There's more interest now because it has been the cutting edge of civil rights work. We've gone from race to sex to sexuality," Upton said. "There really is a diverse crowd of people who have an interest, and it doesn't have anything to do with their sexuality. It has to do with their commitment to social justice."
Ana Ixchel Rosal, director of UT's Gender and Sexuality Center, said she believes the conference is a good opportunity for UT community members to learn about legal issues affecting the gay community.
"I think that a lot of students - and faculty and staff, for that matter - are not aware of their rights legally," Rosal said. "So often people assume that something is illegal even when it is not because there's so much stigma."
She said one example is that same-sex couples believe they cannot adopt a child. In fact, a same-sex couple can adopt as long as only one parent is listed on the birth certificate, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
UT may soon grapple with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender legal questions in the wake of Arabic lecturer Uri Horesh's January hunger strike. Horesh stopped eating for six days to protest UT's lack of domestic partner benefits for faculty and staff.
Though the issue has received less public attention in recent weeks, the Pride and Equity Faculty Staff Association has been working to finish a 45-page report arguing for the adoption of domestic partner benefits for UT system faculty and staff. The group will present its findings to UT President William Powers on April 21.
Karen Landolt, an association member and career development manager at the Red McCombs School of Business, said report writers have focused on arguing that UT will lose top faculty to institutions with domestic partner benefits.
"The main focus is recruiting and retention," Landolt said. "We're trying to make the competitiveness argument."
She said the group has intentionally avoided using legal arguments in its report because the law is very complicated. The association believes UT has the resources to appoint somebody to explore the legal facets of providing domestic partner benefits.
"They just need the will to make it happen," Landolt said.
A reception sponsored by Dean Lawrence Sager will follow the event. Students can register at http://www.utexas.edu/law/orgs/outlaw/conference/registration.html or on site.
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