Nondiscrimination Policy
William & Mary does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex/gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, political belief, disability, veteran status, age, or any other category protected by the Commonwealth or by federal law.
Student Organization Contact Information
William and Mary School of Law LGBT Equality Alliance
For information regarding this organization, visit William and Mary School of Law LGBT Equality Alliance website. Inquiries may be sent to lglawm@email.wm.edu and by contacting the Admission Office at 757.221.3785 or lawadm@wm.edu.
Faculty Contact Information
None
Administrator Contact Information
No details provided.
Course Titles and/or Descriptions
- Constitution & the Family Seminar (Law 569): The Supreme Court has in many ways "constitutionalized" the family—mandating application of select constitutional clauses in deciding many family law disputes. This seminar examines the development of the Court's jurisprudence and explores how (and whether) it implicates numerous contemporary issues, including the extent to which certain family practices should escape state regulation; the constitutional status of marriage (including same-sex and polygamous marriage); limits on child-rearing and parental rights (including the parental rights of adults not biologically related to a child); and reproductive rights, including rights to alternative methods of reproduction and surrogacy. The seminar will also examine state policy-making responses to changing family structures and shifting constitutional doctrine.
- Employment Discrimination (Law 452): This course introduces the laws prohibiting discrimination in employment because of race, national origin, sex, religion, age, and disabilities. In particular, the course emphasizes federal statutory protections provided by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students will have opportunities to grapple with the theories at work in employment discrimination law, to trace the evolving judicial interpretations of the anti-discrimination statutes, and to learn practical skills at dealing with the special problems inherent in the litigation of employment discrimination cases.
- Gender and Human Rights Seminar (Law 607): This course studies and critically assesses the role of international human rights law in bringing about social change. The course uses gender, specifically the treatment and status of women, as a lens for exploring this issue. The course begins with theories on state behavior, which will provide a foundation for exploring the role of law in changing state practices. Topics to be explored will include international trafficking of women, gender and citizenship, women's political participation, the regulation of gender issues by customary law in plural legal systems, women's access to land, violence against women, and gender mainstreaming in national policy development. Through study of these specific topics, students will examine the potential and limits of law as a mechanism for bringing about particular substantive changes within a society or organization.
- Law & Intimate Associations (Law 301): An in-depth study of the state's role in creating legal family relationships and in encouraging or discouraging particular social relationships, with a primary focus on the parent-child relationship. The course will take a multidisciplinary and comparative approach, drawing materials from the social sciences (e.g., sociology, psychology, political science) and the humanities (e.g., philosophy, history, literature) as well as from law, and examining the laws and social circumstances relating to intimate associations in other countries as well as in the US. The course will also have a law reform orientation; we will study the topic with an eye to determining whether and how state legislatures should rewrite the laws that dictate who a child's first legal parents will be. Students will also attend a conference on this topic to be held at the law school, where academics from various disciplines will present papers.
- Law & Social Justice (Law 479): This course will focus on the role of the law in creating, perpetuating, and eradicating hierarchies of power and privilege in American society, particularly those based on racial and ethnic groupings, gender, social and economic class, sexual orientation, and disabilities. We will examine topics such as the meaning of privilege and power and the intersection of identity with patterns of privilege and power, the denial of privilege and power to certain groups through constructions of exclusion in law, and the role of law in society and its potential as an instrument of social justice. Readings will include a variety of social, political, and legal writings. The course will provide an opportunity to explore some critical race and feminist jurisprudence.
- Selected Topics in Employment Law Seminar: Men, Women, Work, and the Law (Law 680): This seminar will focus on gender-related issues in the contemporary workplace. Among the topics to be examined will be sexual harassment and sex discrimination, office dating policies and other gender-related privacy issues, gender pay equity, pregnancy and parenting issues at work, workplace sexual stereotyping, dress and appearance issues, and gender-specific employment. The course's orientation will be more practical than theoretical, with emphasis on real-world fact patterns and challenges viewed from the problem-solving perspective of a working employment law attorney. Students will be graded on their class participation and two writing assignments: an advocacy paper and a client advice memorandum.
Domestic Partnership Benefits
None
Additional Information
To learn about LGBT life from our students directly, visit LGBT (& Ally) Life at W&M Law. LGBT
and ally students take advantage of speakers and events hosted by the Equality Alliance at the law school and the Lambda
Alliance on William & Mary's undergraduate campus. Events include
speakers, movies, brown bag lunches, and advocacy activities. Both organizations are great resources for students.
While
Williamsburg is a relatively small community, we are in close proximity to Richmond, Newport News, and the Norfolk/Virginia
Beach area, where there is a more prevalent LGBT nightlife.
Virginia is a rather conservative state, but many of our students feel
that Williamsburg and the law school community are supportive in their interactions and understanding of the law school
LGBT population. The law school staff is knowledgeable about many issues affecting LGBTs and how to be respectful in
dealing with them. LGBT issues are raised in many classes, not just topic-specific courses, as LGBT law has become part of
every area of the law, from family to tax to government law.
In the law school application process, how an applicant addresses
their sexual orientation or identity is up to them, and it is under their discretion whether they disclose any personal information.
We have successfully enrolled students from across the LGBT spectrum, including transgender students.
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