Review of Law and Social Justice holds annual symposium
-Story and photos by Lori Craig
Amid the continuing legal battle over Proposition 8, the California voter-approved initiative banning same-sex marriage, nine legal scholars and gay marriage advocates met at USC Law recently to discuss marriage equality and debate how best to fight for it.
The Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice annual symposium “Proposition 8 and Marriage Equality,” held on March 3, featured keynote speaker Shannon Price Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Following Minter’s address, two panel discussions, moderated by USC Law faculty, included panelists from USC, Lambda Legal, Love Honor Cherish, Loyola Law School and UCLA.
Minter (right) was lead counsel for same-sex couples in In re Marriage Cases, which held that same-sex couples have the right to marry, and was part of the legal team that fought against Prop. 8 before the California Supreme Court last year.
Prop. 8 advocates and opponents both often argue that the same-sex marriage debate hinges on the question of individual rights versus the democratic process, Minter said. But he doesn’t see it that way.
“Rather than being in conflict, the values of democracy and marriage equality are interdependent,” Minter said.
Bans on same sex marriage cause “democratic damage,” Minter said, by sending the message that, at best, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people will be accepted only as individuals. It isn’t the act of marriage that is the critical issue, it is the ability to be treated as a respected human being who has the freedom to choose.
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| David Cruz, Clare Pastore, David NeJaime |
“Gay people seek the freedom to marry because that freedom to choose is essential to the principle of equal citizenship that is at the heart of democracy,” Minter said. “LGBT people are calling on the court to live up to its democratic ideals by exposing the gap between the ideal of equality and our failure to reach it: that is the essence of democracy.”
Minter called equality a “process,” and said that only as long as people fight to be equal can true democracy exist.
“A majority cannot intentionally create an exception to equal protection without violating the constitution,” he said. “We will not have democracy as long as the majority treats LGBT people as outsiders rather than as equal citizens with the right to belong or be different as others.”
After Minter’s talk, USC Law Prof. Clare Pastore moderated a panel that included USC Law Prof. David Cruz and Loyola Law School Prof. Douglas NeJaime.
The second panel, moderated by USC Law Prof. Rebecca Brown, featured Prof. Judith Halberstam, director of the USC Center for Feminist Research; John Henning, co-founder and executive director of Love Honor Cherish; Jennifer C. Pizer, senior counsel and marriage project director for Lambda Legal; and Robert Bradley Sears, executive director of The Williams Institute at UCLA Law School.
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| John Henning, Brad Sears, Jennifer C. Pizer and Rebecca Brown |
The panelists discussed statistics on gay marriage and families headed by same-sex couples; the history of the fight for marriage equality in California and other states; and different strategies for moving forward in the pursuit of marriage equality.
The Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice (RLSJ) is an honors journal at USC Law committed to the discussion of issues underlying social justice and the law. This was its second annual symposium, which was organized and run by RLSJ staff. For more information on the symposium or to download the program, visit the RLSJ website.
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