Antidiscrimination

The Clinic works on many projects challenging discrimination related to sexuality and gender.  In addition to the publications described here, check the Criminal Law issues section of this website for discussion of discriminatory sex sting operations.

Elder Equality: A Roadmap for Supporting and Protecting LGBT Seniors outlines policy changes states can make to improve the lives of LGBT seniors.  The Clinic prepared the report in advance of the first White House LGBT Conference on Aging, held in Miami in May 2012.  The report highlights the difficulties LGBT people face as they age, including discrimination, social isolation, and financial insecurity.  The report focuses on state legislative and administrative agency changes to caregiving, housing, and health care programs in Florida, and also sets out recommendations that advocates throughout the country can use as a model.

Elder Equality: A Roadmap for Supporting and Protecting LGBT Seniors 

Brief of Amici Curiae Wingspan and One Voice Community Center is an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit that the Clinic co-authored in support of the plaintiff-appellees in Collins v. Brewer.  The case involves a challenge to an Arizona law that eliminated domestic partner health benefits for lesbian and gay state employees, while retaining spousal health benefits for heterosexual workers. In this brief, the Clinic urged the court to address the proper level of scrutiny for sexual orientation-based classifications and argued that laws distinguishing between gay and nongay people require strict scrutiny, the most stringent constitutional standard applied in equal protection cases. 

Collins v. Brewer Amicus Brief

Open Service and Our Allies:  A Report on the Inclusion of Openly Gay and Lesbian Servicemembers in U.S. Allies' Armed Forces is a report the Clinic submitted to Congress in May 2010 in connection with Congressional deliberations regarding the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  The report examines the transition to open military service in Australia, Canada, Israel, and the United Kingdom, and, from this data, suggests insights for the U.S. military's transition away from "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." More specifically, the report documents the decision to implement open service in these countries and the effect of open service on unit cohesion and military performance, barracks and showers, sexual harassment and anti-discrimination policies, and relationship recognition. The report also addresses U.S. military service in multinational forces that include openly gay and lesbian servicemembers.

Open Service and Our Allies Report
 

Defending Your Rights: A Transgender, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual User's Guide to the New York City Commission on Human Rights is a widely circulated how-to guide for anyone who believes they have suffered discrimination and might want to file a claim in New York City’s Human Rights Commission.  It aims, in part, to help people enforce their rights under the New York City Human Rights Law, which makes it illegal to discriminate in the City because of gender identity or sexual orientation. 

The Guide, published in 2008 by the Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic at Columbia Law School, is also useful for anyone who has experienced discrimination.  Its step-by-step approach helps readers who are thinking about documenting and possibly pursuing a discrimination claim.