Sexual Orientation and the Law Blog

New York Appellate Court Recognizes Out of State Marriage for New York State Health Insurance Purposes

In Lewis v. New York, 2009 WL 137504 (N.Y. App. Div. Jan. 22, 2009), the appellate court for the third division held that New York would recognize out of state marriages for purposes of State Health Insurance Purposes for spouses of state employees.  The lawsuit began because individual taxpayers filed suit after the Department of Civil Services announced that it would recognize out of state same sex marriages for such purposes.  Id. at *1.  The court noted that marriages are valid if they were "'considered valid in the place where celebrated'", Id. (quoting Van Voorhis v. Brintnall, 86 N.Y. 18, 25 (1881)), absent a clear legislative intent to consider such marriages as void or an out of state marriage that is considered "abhorrent to New York public policy." Id.  The court noted that New York does not have a mini-DOMA and does not consider same sex marriages contrary to its public policy.  Id. at *3.

Free Program at Touro: Transgender Law--Challenging the Boundaries of Law and Gender

Touro Law Center’s Journal of Race, Gender and Ethnicity presents

Transgender Law: Challenging the Boundaries of Law and Gender

Friday, February 20, 2009

8:30 A.M. - 3:00 P.M.

Registration for the event is FREE.  To register, follow this link.

Co-Sponsored by LeGaL (the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Law Association of Greater New York) and the Long Island GLBT Community Center.

8:30 a.m. - 9:10 a.m.: Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:10 a.m. - 9:20 a.m.: Welcome Remarks

-          Dean Lawrence Raful, Touro Law Center

9:20 a.m. – 10:40 a.m.: Session 1: Gender and Access to Justice

-          Moderator: James G. Durham, Head of Public Services, Gould Law Library, Touro Law Center

-          Immigration Law and the Transgender Client, Victoria Neilson, Esq., Legal Director, Immigration Equality

-          Eight, Hate or too Late?  Did California Transsexuals Survive the Proposition Eight Vote?, Katrina Rose, Esq., Doctoral Candidate, Department of History, University of Iowa 

-          Transgender Issues in Criminal Law: Finding a Place for Transgender Individuals in Prisons, Benish Shah, Esq., Associate, Stroock & Strook & Lavan, LLP

10:40 a.m. – 10:50am: Break

10:50 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.: Session 2: Gender as Legal Boundary

-          Moderator: Mik Kinkead, Trangender Services Coordinator, Long Island GLBT Community Center

-          From Sex-testing to the Stockholm Consensus: The Tenuous Lex Sportiva of the Transgender Athlete, Professor Shayna Sigman, Associate Professor of Law, Touro Law Center

-          Transgender Access to Healthcare and the Role of Medicine in Transgender Civil Rights, Michael D. Silverman, Esq., Executive Director, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund

-          Transgender Name Changes and Legal Adjudications of Gender, Franklin Romeo, Esq., Staff Attorney, Sylvia Rivera Law Project

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Lunch

1:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.: Transgender Identity and Framing Transgender Equality

-          Moderator: David Kilmnick, Phd, MSW, Chief Executive Officer, Long Island GLBT Community Center

-          The Debate over GID Reform: How does it play out in the Courts?, Dru Levasseur, Esq., Staff Attorney, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund

-          Rights to Gender Self-Determination as a Component of the Constitutional Right to Privacy, Dr. Jillian T. Weiss, Esq., Professor of Law and Society, Ramapo College

-          Transitional Discrimination, Professor Elizabeth Glazer, Associate Professor of Law, Hofstra Law School

-          Interlocking Systems of Oppression: Disability, Gender and Race in the Context of Transgender Legal Claims, Kyle Kirkup, Candidate for Baccalaureate of Law and Senior Editor of Ottawa Law Review, University of Ottawa

2:50 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.: Closing Remarks

-          Professor Meredith R. Miller, Assistant Professor of Law, Touro Law Center

Nigerian Government Passes Law to Ban Same Sex Marriage

The vote of the Nigerian House of Representatives was unanimous:  against same sex marriage.  "Representatives said that both Islam and Christianity, the prominent religions in Nigeria, condemn homosexual acts."  Nigerian MPs Vote to Ban "Immoral" Gay Marriages, pinknews.co.uk (Jan. 19, 2009).

Rural Domestic Violence Article

This post concerns an Article I recently wrote in the Working Papers Series on SSRN.  The Article is based on a qualitative study performed in rural Illinois concerning police enforcement of domestic violence laws.

Although it does not relate to LGBT rights, it may interest some of my readers.  Here is the link to the SSRN page.

Here is the Abstract:

The need for specific inquiry into rural domestic violence is pressing
because rural survivors face barriers to legal and economic access,
assistance, and development that are compounded by their isolated
physical location. However, there is a paucity of legal discourse
addressing the issue of rural domestic violence. In particular, it is
important to consider law enforcement response to domestic violence
calls because police officers often serve as the gateway to the legal
community through first-response action. This Article, which was
the first focus-group based study of survivors’ perceptions of law
enforcement response to domestic violence in the rural Midwest,
points out the disparity between law and action in rural Illinois as
detailed by the survivor narratives. The survivors participating in
focus groups detailed ineffective police responses to domestic
violence calls. The gap between law and practice is expounded by
interposing the legal obligations provided by Illinois statute with the
narratives of police inaction and failure to arrest. Then, a method of
strengthening police responses to domestic violence calls in rural
areas is proposed in order to respond to the issues presented in the
survivor narratives. The proposal includes the use of detailed first
response forms that will encourage officers to engage in risk
assessment techniques in order to better gage whether an arrest is
warranted in response to a domestic violence call. Additionally, the
form will serve as a reminder of statutorily mandated duties imposed
on law enforcement officers. Through the use of these methods, rural
officers can respond more effectively to domestic violence calls and
better serve rural survivors of domestic abuse.