This seminar will explore ways in which U.S. law has responded to diversity within human sexual orientation, including the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexually identified persons. We will primarily focus on statutory and case law developments, including ones arising under four areas of civil rights law: liberty (including challenges to laws criminalizing sexual conduct or solicitation of sexual conduct); equality (including constitutional and statutory protections against discrimination in public and private employment – and in particular the issue whether the sex discrimination ban of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids sexual orientation discrimination; public accommodations; and the political process); expression and religion (including First Amendment rights of public employees, students, and the media, as well as issues of religious freedom and exemptions); and family (including issues surrounding marriage, rights and responsibilities of unmarried partners, and parenting).
