David Cruz recognized for legal contributions to social justice for the LGBT community
USC Gould School of Law Professor David Cruz was honored by the California Legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus at a special awards ceremony June 14. The California Legislature proclaimed June LGBT Pride Month and recognized the past accomplishments and contributions of the LGBT Community.
Cruz was one of nine honorees selected from across the state for their lifetime contributions and accomplishments in creating a better future for all Californians.
“I am proud to acknowledge the amazing work of our honorees which represents just a fraction of what the LGBT community has contributed to California and to our country,” said LGBT Caucus Chair Assemblymember Tom Ammiano. “Pride Month is an opportunity to remind the world of the diversity of our community and celebrate the obstacles we have overcome. We are still fighting for equal rights under the law and this commitment to social justice should be a source of pride for every Californian.”
Cruz is an expert on constitutional law and sex, gender, and sexual orientation law and has published and spoken extensively on legal issues concerning lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons.
“It was an honor having the California Assembly adopt a resolution recognizing me for my legal work alongside great Californians like Armistead Maupin, Phyllis Lyon and the late Del Martin, whose political, cultural, and social work have inspired and benefited me and countless others for so many years,” Cruz said.
Cruz was represented in amicus curiae briefs before the Supreme Court of the United States in Lawrence v. Texas, which invalidated the nation’s remaining sodomy laws in 2003, and before the Supreme Court of California in the initial pre-election challenge to Proposition 8. He co-authored amicus briefs in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts case that led to Massachusetts’s opening its marriage laws to same-sex couples, and in Jespersen v. Harrah’s Operating Company, a Lambda Legal case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit challenging sex-discriminatory dress and make-up requirements.
He has testified before the Assembly Judiciary Committee of the California legislature about differences between marriages and civil unions; presented constitutional arguments against the Defense of Marriage Act at an American Bar Association meeting; and spoken widely against the then-pending Proposition 8, including before numerous Neighborhood Councils throughout Los Angeles.
Cruz is co-president of ILGLaw, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, and Intersex Law Association; a past chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues; a member of the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California; and a General Counsel of the national ACLU. Cruz is admitted to the bars of the State of New York and the United States Supreme Court.
Before arriving at USC in 1996, Cruz was a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General in Washington, D.C. He also clerked for The Honorable Edward R. Becker, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Other honorees Monday included: Armistead Maupin, Aaron Alvarado, Dr. William Beck, Cecilia Chung, Del Martin (Posthumous), Phyllis Lyon, Tina Reynolds and Jewel Thais-Williams.
Formation of the LGBT Caucus in 2002 made California the first state in the country to recognize an official caucus of openly-LGBT state legislators.
The full language of HR 30, the resolution declaring June 2010 as LGBT Pride Month can be found at: http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/billtrack/Bills/HR_30/.
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