Contact:          Art Leonard, Professor of Law, New York Law School,                       212.431.2156,  aleonard@nyls.edu
                      Jim Hellegaard, New York Law School Public Affairs, 212.431.2191,                       jhellegaard@nyls.edu

NEW YORK, NY, June 26, 2003

The Issue:         
The Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay sex today, ruling that the law was an unconstitutional violation of privacy. The ruling reverses course from one the Court made 17 years ago that states could punish homosexuals for what such laws historically called deviant sex. The case is Lawrence v. Texas, 02-102.

The Expert:        
New York Law School Professor Arthur Leonard, an expert on gay rights who has closely followed the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas, is available to speak with media covering this landmark case. "This likely the Magna Carta for gay rights for the next generation," said Leonard, who has been instrumental in chronicling the legal aspects of the lesbian and gay community with his publication of the widely respected Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, which is available on the Internet (www.qrd.org), and is the only publication of its kind in the country. It is extensively cited in law review articles and books as a key source.

Over the past 20 years, Professor Leonard has written numerous articles on employment law, AIDS law, and lesbian and gay law. 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 bi-weekly lesbian and gay newspaper, and has written for POZ Magazine on AIDS legal issues and for several other lesbian and gay newspapers in New York City. Leonard has held a variety of influential and activist positions in civic and legal organizations, including trustee of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, 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 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.

ABOUT NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL

Located near the centers of law, government, and finance in New York City, New York Law School is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States. Its faculty of noted and prolific scholars has built the school's curricular strength in the areas of tax law, labor and employment law, civil and human rights law, media and information law, urban legal studies, international and comparative law, and interdisciplinary fields such as legal history and legal ethics. The Law School enrolls 1,400 students and has more than 11,000 graduates.

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