Justice Speaks: February 7, 2012

LGBTQ Youth in the Age of Claimed Acceptance and Bullying

Tuesday, February 7, 2012
12:50–1:50 p.m.
Room W220
 

Susan Sommer, Senior Counsel and Director of Constitutional Litigation, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
Matthew Faiella, Staff Attorney, United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
Ronald Scott, Staff Attorney, United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
Moderated by: Professor Arthur Leonard, Professor of Law at New York Law School, Founder of New York City’s LGBT Bar Association, and Editor of the Lesbian/Gay Law Notes

As a follow-up to last semester’s Same-sex Marriage in the Age of DOMA, the February Justice Speaks lunch focused on LGBTQ youth issues. LGBTQ youth issues continue to be a major social topic affecting America today. While parts of the country have become more accepting, LGBTQ youth continue to face bullying and harassment, rejection, and homelessness. The Justice Action Center welcomed Susan Sommer of Lambda Legal, Matthew Faiella of the United States Department of Education, Ronald Scott of the United States Department of Education, and NYLS Professor Art Leonard to discuss the current status of LGBTQ youth in America.

The panelists discussed: LGBTQ youth issues including anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools, issues faced by youth in out-of-home care, family rejection, and transgender youth issues.

Continuing Legal Education (CLE)

This program was approved for one hour of CLE credit in professional practice for both transitional and non-transitional attorneys.

About the Speakers:

Susan Sommer, J.D., Director of Constitutional Litigation, Senior Program Associate, Senior Counsel, and Supervisor of the Youth in Out-Of-Home Care Project at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Susan Sommer is Senior Counsel and Director of Constitutional Litigation for Lanbda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization comitted to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and people with HIV. Sommer supervises attorney and staff and participates in all aspects of Lambda Legal's impact litigation, policy advocacy, and public education to advance the civil rights of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or living with HIV.

Sommer is the director of Lambda Legal's Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project, which aims to ensure that LGBT youth in foster care are safe and supported. She leads a historic joint partnership between Lambda Legal and the Child Welfare League of America that will make LGBT youth a clear priority for state and local children's agencies around the country.

Sommer was the lead counsel in and argued the landmark New York Court of Appeals cases Debra H. v. Janice R. (2010), addressing recognition of parental status of a partner in a Vermont civil union, Godfrey v. Spano (2009), addressing recognition of out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples, and Hernandez v. Robles (2006), challenging exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage in New York. Additionally, Sommer was the lead attorney on Lambda Legal's lawsuit that convinced the Arkansas Supreme Court to strike down the state's antigay sodomy law and clearly identify a right to privacy in the state's constitution for the first time. She played a key role in Lawrence v. Texas, Lambda Legal's landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down Texas's "Homosexual Conduct" law.

Sommer clerked for U.S. District Court Judge William Schwarzer in the Northern District of California. A 1986 graduate of Yale Law School, Sommer served as notes editor at the Yale Law & Policy Review. She received her bachelor's degree in American Studies from Yale, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude.

Matthew Faiella, J.D., Staff Attorney, United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Matt Faiella is an attorney at the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights in New York (OCR). Before that, he worked as a staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, where he focused on LGBT issues. Prior to that, he was a staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He received a BA in 2002 from Boston University and JD in 2005 from Cornell Law School.

Ronald Scott, J.D., Staff Attorney, United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

Since 2009, Ronald L. Scott has served as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, New York Office for Civil Rights. Prior to joining that office, Ronald was an associate at the California-based education law firm of Dannis, Woliver & Kelley, and was a member of the firm’s labor, employment, and personnel practice group. Ronald has also served as a Federal Judicial Staff Attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, where he provided the Court with recommendations concerning the disposition of employment discrimination and civil rights appeals. In addition, Ronald served as a federal judicial law clerk to the Honorable William R. Sawyer of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Alabama. Ronald received his B.A. in 2000 from the University of California at Irvine and his J.D. in 2004 from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

Professor Arthur S. Leonard, J.D., Professor at New York Law School, Founder of New York City’s LGBT Bar Association, and Editor of the Lesbian/Gay Law Notes

Professor Arthur Leonard has been a professor of law at New York Law School since 1982. He started the city’s LGBT Bar Association, and has been writing on LGBT legal issues for more than 30 years.

A frequent national spokesperson on sexual orientation law and an expert on the rapidly emerging area of gay family law, he is a contributing writer for Gay City News (formerly LGNY), New York’s weekly lesbian and gay newspaper, and has written for several other lesbian and gay newspapers in New York City. He also blogs on LGBT and AIDS legal issues.


Professor Leonard has held a variety of influential and activist positions in civic and legal organizations, including trustee of Lambda Legal, trustee of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City University of New York, chair of the Section on Gay and Lesbian Legal Issues of the Association of American Law Schools, and chair of the Sex and Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is chair of the Human Resources Committee and a trustee of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services of New York.


He has testified on the New York City gay rights bill, organized forums that helped change rules on domestic partnership benefits, and helped produce oft-cited studies of the court system and legal profession that demonstrated the need for equality of opportunity and treatment for minorities.


At NYLS, he advises the LGBT student group and has been an effective advocate for change on lesbian and gay issues. In 2000, Professor Leonard was honored by the Law School at a symposium commemorating the 20th anniversary of the now-celebrated Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, which had begun as a typed, one-page sheet that he sent out to a handful of colleagues. In 2010, the Law School and the LGBT Law Association Foundation honored him again on the publication’s 30th anniversary.


Professor Leonard received the prestigious 2005 Dan Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association in recognition of his significant contributions to the advance of LGBT rights under the law.

Leonard received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he graduated cum laude. He received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
 

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