Prerequisites: None

Exam: No Exam

This reading group addresses substantive and strategic issues affecting efforts to secure legal equality and substantive equity for LGBTQ people in the U.S. and in our multiple identities. The materials will include but are not limited to cases, statutes, policy papers, public education initiatives, and will address both proponents and opponents.  Among the topics to be addressed:  (1) historical context, assessment of what has and has not been achieved, who decides on the “agenda” setting with examples of past and current contestation; (2) liberty, including autonomy around sexuality and family formation + key family law developments and how they affect nearly everything; (3) nationalizing a non-discrimination law and equity in using it, using Bostock and preventing erosion, & the equity challenges; (4) affirming all LGBTQI+ youth, using trans and nonbinary youth as a wedge, including schooling more broadly; (5) offensive and defensive First Amendment issues (religious exemption/free exercise + speech issues), as playing out in the Congress (the Equality Act (HR 5) and alternatives) and the courts. 

Note: This reading group will meet on the following dates: 9/16, 9/30, 10/14, 10/28, 11/11, 11/18

Drop Deadline: September 17, 2021 by 11:59 pm EST