UCLA’s Williams Institute of Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy will establish the nation’s first academic chair in sexual orientation law after recently receiving a $1-million cash gift from a gay couple.
The donation, given by John McDonald and Rob Wright, will fund the research of a professor who has yet to be chosen. For the past five years, the Williams Institute has served as a national thinktank for gay rights that studies legal issues such as parenting, discrimination, immigration, military policy and the rights of same-sex couples.
According to Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute, prospective chairs include law professors Bill Rubenstein, Chris Littleton, Ken Karst and Devon Carbado.
“”The chair signals to students and scholars, no matter what their sexual orientation, that sexual orientation law is a legitimate and important field of academic inquiry,”” Sears said.
Although formal establishment of the chair is still under review by the UC system, the institute expects approval because support has been extremely high at UCLA, according to Sears.
The creation of the chair has been met with buzzing excitement from gay rights supporters across the nation.
“”The chair is a tremendous asset for the community,”” said Geoff Korf, executive director of Equality California, a gay civil rights advocacy organization. “”The Williams Institute has been a leader in research on sexual law, and these new developments will ensure that research will continue. I have no doubt that education changes hearts and minds.””
Over one-third of the country’s law schools lack courses in sexual orientation law. Some universities do offer chairs in gay and gender studies, but most of those programs exist within the areas of humanities and social sciences, not law.
According to Martha Lampland, the chair of UCSD’s critical gender studies department, the presence of an endowed chair at a law school allows professors to translate key debates into social policy and more equitable practices in the law. Many students engaged in critical gender studies go on to law school, and UCLA hopes to strengthen that crucial trend with its new position.
“”The legal protection of civil rights is essential for society to move forward,”” Korf said. “”Right now, we live in a society where a large group of people are denied equality from the law.””
The institute discovered that nearly half of skilled nursing homes in Los Angeles refuse to treat HIV-positive patients, but also found that more homosexuals are now able to live openly in the rural areas of the United States.
McDonald and Wright have insisted that the professor that eventually occupies the chair conduct objective research in the areas of same-sex relationships and adoption, as well as property settlements after gay couples break up. The pair has lived together for 25 years and registered as domestic partners.
If gay marriage were approved in California, McDonald said he and Wright would wed “”instantly.””
“”Sexual orientation law continues to dominate national, state and local politics, media and the personal lives of so many people,”” UCSD Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center Director Shaun Travers said. “”The establishment of the chair is one of the most powerful, tangible commitments to the ongoing need for study and research around legal issues and LGBT identities.””
