Diversity in Law School

LGBT Fellowship

In 2002, Hofstra Law School established an unprecedented fellowship program for students engaged in advocacy on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

Each year, the law school awards fellowships to up to three incoming JD students with a history of advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community.

This program is designed to demonstrate Hofstra's commitment to equality and support for LGBT individuals.

Fellowship Overview

• A tuition scholarship of up to $20,000 per year.
• Up to two $7,500 summer externship stipends for LGBT rights-related work with nonprofit or government employers.
• A comprehensive course of study devoted to equality, including courses in Sexuality and the Law, Sex Discrimination, Jurisprudence, and an independent study and tutorial designed to address issues of particular concern to the LGBT community.
• Experience in legal advocacy for the LGBT community through the law school's externship program which places students with nonprofit organizations, including those devoted to legal advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community.
• Participation in a mentoring program with LeGal, the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association of Greater New York, representing one of the most diverse legal practice communities in the United States inclusive of LGBT individuals.
• Opportunity to develop a publishable treatise through an independent study and tutorial designed to address issues affecting the LGBT community.
• Participation in the National Sexual Orientation Law Moot Court Competition.

Selection Criteria

Fellows are selected based on demonstrated academic ability and experience advocating LGBT rights prior to law school.

This advocacy may include political activity, aid to LGBT social support networks, participation in events that promote the visibility of LGBT individuals, and other forms of charitable or philanthropic activity.

Consideration will also be given to an applicant's plans for advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community.

Application Process

• Fellowship Brochure and Application (PDF)

Send completed Fellowship applications to:

Noreen O'Brien, Director of Enrollment Management
Hofstra Law School
121 Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY 11549-1210

Phone: 516.463.5916
E-mail: lawadmissions@hofstra.edu

Fellowship Faculty Contacts

Elizabeth Glazer
Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the LGBT Rights Fellowship
Hofstra Law School
Phone: 516.463.5874
E-mail: Elizabeth.glazer@hofstra.edu

Serge Martinez
Associate Clinical Professor of Law and Co-Director for the LGBT Fellowship
Hofstra Law School
Phone: 516.463.4739
E-mail: Serge.Martinez@hofstra.edu

Colloquium on Law and Sexuality

Launched in 2007, the Hofstra Law School Colloquium on Law and Sexuality is designed to advance the cutting edge of scholarship on law and sexuality, particularly scholarship concerning the human rights of sexual minorities.

The Colloquium on Law and Sexuality brings leading scholars to campus to present works-in-progress throughout the year. LGBT Rights Fellows work directly with individuals impacting scholarship on law and sexuality. LGBT Fellows are front and center at these events. For more information, visit law.hofstra.edu/SexualityColloquium.

Institute for the Study of Gender, Law, and Public Policy

The mission of the Institute for the Study of Gender, Law, and Public Policy is to facilitate teaching, research, and scholarship concerning gender as it relates to law and public policy. The Institute will also facilitate interdisciplinary exchange within Hofstra University. Through sponsoring courses, conferences, roundtables, and other events, and by generating publications, it will contribute to the knowledge of the academic community at Hofstra and of the broader community on this issue.

Nondiscrimination Policy

The Fellowship is open to persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Hofstra University continues its commitment to extending equal opportunity to all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, national or ethnic origin, or physical or mental disability in the conduct and operation of its educational programs and activities, including admission and employment. This statement of nondiscrimination is in compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and other federal, state, and local tax laws. The Director of Environmental Safety in the Plant Department, 516.463.6622, is the individual designated by the University to coordinate its efforts to comply with Section 504. The Equal Rights and Opportunity officer is the university's official responsible for coordinating its adherence to Title IX and other equal opportunity regulations and laws. Questions or concerns regarding Title IX or other aspects of this policy (other than Section 504) should be directed to the Equal Rights and Opportunity officer, 516.463.2500.

Student Organization Contact Information

Students and faculty founded the law school chapter of Hofstra OutLaw to promote the equality of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community. OutLaw strives to increase political and educational awareness of LGBT issues through various activities including speaker panels, community involvement, and social events. OutLaw membership is open to all students and faculty interested and supportive of LGBT concerns.

• OutLaw website

Faculty Contact Information

Please contact the Office of Admissions.

Administrator Contact Information

Please contact the Office of Admissions.

Course Titles and/or Descriptions

Sampling of courses:

• Adoption and Family Formation Seminar—This course will cover a range of topics within adoption law, including the historical background of the American law of adoption, adoption procedure, parental consent to adoption, termination of parental rights, choosing an adoptive family, race and sexual orientation issues in adoption, international adoption, and adoption's role in the evolving constitution and contested nature of a family.
• Colloquium on Contemporary Issues in Gender, Law, and Public Policy—This colloquium is designed to highlight new and important scholarship concerning gender as it relates to law and public policy. The format will be a series of presentations, akin to workshops, in which outside scholars with expertise in the area of gender, law, and public policy present papers for discussion with students. In alternating weeks during which there is not an outside speaker, the instructor(s) will meet with the students to go over the paper that is to be delivered the following week and will have further discussion of the paper that was delivered the previous week. Students will be required to write a short (two-page) reaction paper about each outside scholar's paper. In addition, students will write a longer paper (of approximately 10 pages) about one of the scholarly papers presented in the colloquium. Students who take this seminar may satisfy the law school's second upperclass writing requirement. The primary readings for the seminar will be the presented papers. There will be some additional reading to provide the students with sufficient background on the topics addressed in the papers.
• Feminist Jurisprudence—This course examines feminist jurisprudence as a distinct project, exploring how feminist legal theorists have considered gender in understanding and critiquing our legal system and its norms. It involves a number of debates within feminist jurisprudence, how feminist scholars attempt to resolve those debates, and how they bring feminist analysis to bear on a number of contemporary issues of law and public policy. The course offers a general introduction to feminist jurisprudence by considering several prominent approaches, including Critical Race feminism, liberal feminism, radical (or dominance) feminism, postmodern feminism, relational feminism, and forms of outsider jurisprudence with links to feminism such as queer theory. We assess debates within feminist jurisprudence concerning how best to understand the ideal of sex equality, the bearing of the issue of sameness and difference between women and men upon achieving that ideal, and the question of whether, in view of differences among women based on class, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation and the like, it is desirable or possible to speak about women as a meaningful category. We also consider some feminist work in disciplines other than law. Specific practical applications of feminist jurisprudence to law and policy include, for example, legal regulation of sexuality, reproduction, and the family; the reconstruction of marriage (including same-sex marriage); employment discrimination (including sexual harassment); pornography; poverty and social welfare policy; violence against women; and international human rights.
• Sex-Based Discrimination—This seminar explores the topic of sex equality as reflected in constitutional law and in various bodies of federal and state statutory law. The seminar begins with the constitutional history of the unequal and different treatment of men and women in matters such as citizenship, marriage, and employment, and examines the evolution of modern equal protection jurisprudence. It also covers sex discrimination in employment (including sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination) and in education (including athletics, sexual harassment, and single-sex schools). Attention may also be given to current debates involving sex equality, including reproductive rights, pornography, domestic violence, affirmative action, and women in the legal profession.
• Rights of LGBT Youth: A Comparative Approach—This course explores contemporary legal issues pertinent to LGBT youth. Topics will include the efforts of legal systems to address anti-gay harassment and violence in schools; the struggle to include LGBT issues in school curricula; and the problems experienced by LGBT student organizations. The course will cover the approaches of different US states as well as several European jurisdictions.
• Sexuality and the Law—This course examines how certain expectations about sex, gender, and romantic love permeate American and international law. As a result, the course covers a wide range of topics that are now fiercely debated on a national scale, such as hate crime, abortion, rape, domestic violence, prostitution, AIDS, gender assignment surgery on adults and intersexed children, and discrimination in the US military based on gender and sexual orientation. Additionally, because practicing attorneys are increasingly likely to counsel clients on laws related to matters of sexual orientation (especially in representing openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clients), the course gives particular emphasis to laws related to domestic partnerships, adoption, marriage, child custody, and discussion of sexual identity in various private and public settings, such as schools and the workplace. Grades are based on a take-home exam, though students are given small, nongraded assignments throughout the course that are specifically designed to prepare them for their primary exam question.
• Transgender Law—This course explores how the law constructs and regulates gender identity. Specific issues covered include the documentation of gender, access to healthcare, antidiscrimination law, and family law. Students will study existing law and critique it from various theoretical perspectives. Readings will include legal materials from numerous jurisdictions around the world, legal scholarship, and works from other academic disciplines.
• Practical LGBT Lawyering—The course will use practical lawyering experiences as a lens to teach students skills for representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clients. Because many areas of law apply to LGBT individuals and families differently than to heterosexual individuals and families, lawyers need specialized expertise to represent LGBT clients in areas like adoption, marriage, family planning, trusts and estates, taxation, public benefits, education, immigration, employment, health care, and others. The course will focus on practical skills while exploring the wide range of legal topics impacted by LGBT issues. Students will be required to handle some aspect of legal representation involving LGBT issues, either through their work with a clinic or through an approved externship placement.

Domestic Partnership Benefits

Eligible Dependents

You may enroll as an individual participant or as a family participant. When you enroll as a family participant, coverage is provided for you and your eligible dependents, who are any of the following:

Effective September 1, 1996—your same-sex domestic partner. This category applies only to faculty members and full-time administrators who meet the following requirements and can affirm them to Hofstra:

• You and your partner have lived in a committed family relationship for at least six months;
• You and your partner can provide proof of cohabitation (such as driver's licenses or tax returns);
• You are each other's sole domestic partner, and intend to continue living together as domestic partners in the future;
• You are not legally allowed to marry under the current laws of the state in which you reside;
• Neither you nor your partner is married to anyone;
• You and your partner are age 18 or older;
• You are not the parent, child, sibling, grandparent, or other blood relation that would bar marriage under the laws of the state in which you reside;
• You and your partner would marry or establish a legally recognized domestic partnership if it were available to you under the laws of the state in which you reside;
• You share joint responsibility for one another's common welfare and basic needs, evidenced by submitted proof of at least two of the following:
  • Common ownership or lease of a home
  • Common ownership of a motor vehicle
  • Joint bank account or credit cards
  • Designation of your partner as a beneficiary for life insurance or retirement benefits or naming as a beneficiary under your will
  • Assignment of durable power of attorney or health care proxy to one another
• You qualify as a domestic partnership under legislation in effect (if any) in the jurisdiction in which you and your partner reside and are in compliance with any requirements of it.

Additional Information

LGBT Community at Hofstra Law:

• Hofstra Law School supports the Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater New York (LeGaL) Foundation as a Silver Benefactor. (We get a table every year and send our students to the dinner.)
• Hofstra Law School celebrates the diversity of the student body with the annual Diversity Banquet.
• OutLaw sponsors students to attend Service members Legal Defense Network's Lobby Day in Washington, DC.
• OutLaw organizes information tables providing educational materials to students about the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
• OutLaw regularly hosts speakers and debates; past debates were on same-sex marriage.
• Hofstra Law School has a gender-neutral bathroom.

« Back to LGBT Survey Results