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.