Regulation of Gender & Sexuality

This course explores the ways in which law constructs and regulates gender and sexuality in the United States. The class will approach the topic both as a body of law touching these aspects of American life in general, and from the perspective of legal movements representing people who are marginalized by gender and sexual identities. We will cover major developments in the constitutional and statutory law of reproduction, sexual orientation, and gender expression, including criminal regulation of sex and sexuality and substantive due process limits on such prohibitions; equal protection regarding sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity; and anti-discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and other settings. By learning doctrine in historical context, we will also be able to appreciate the ways that other areas of law - such as family law, immigration law, local government law, and speech regulation - channel, constrain, and authorize sex- and gender-related choices. We will examine major debates in the field including: the relationship between culture and biology, benefits and drawbacks to identity-based claims, and the tension between assimilation and liberation. Through doctrine, history, and theory, the class provides the conceptual tools necessary to understand this rapidly evolving area of law.