Page 4 HIGH GEAR-APRIL 1981

Gay law conference in Pittsburgh

By Lew Lasher

Reprinted with permission from the GAY COMMUNITY NEWS, 22 Bromfield St., Boston, MA

02108.

PITTSBURGH Over 150 people attended the second national conference on Law and the Fight for Lesbian & Gay Rights, held at the University of Pittsburgh Law School March 13-15.

A recurring theme was the need to work together despite the diverse interests of the lesbian and gay community. The twenty workshops included some issues of primary interest to lesbians (e.g., custody), some primarily affecting gay men (e.g., police raids on the baths), and others involving only a certain segment of the community (e.g., youth, military personnel). Yet, several speakers stressed the similarities among issues.

"The same bigotry, hatred, fears and ignorance which lead to racism also lead to sexism and homophobia," commented Billy Jones, founder of the National Conference of Black Gays, at the plenary session.

Rosalyn Richter, of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, pointed out the practical necessity of drawing connections between the various proposals of the New Right which would use similar legal tactics to

restrict abortion rights, to discourage hiring of gay school teachers, and to stall desegregation: "Even if you cannot make the connections on a personal level, as a lawyer, you should at least realize the legal connections."

attack "dangerous and degrading images" such as those portrayed in the films Cruising and Windows, was skeptical of reliance solely on "the repressive power of the state."

People on both sides of the "debate" preferred civil sanctions (such as the injunction) over the criminal.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge and keynote speaker Ste-

Of particular concern to lesbians and gay men, she said, would be a constitutional amendment prohibiting abortions, since the recent New York and Pennsylva-phen nia court decisions striking down sodomy laws "quote word for word" from the abortion cases, according to Richter.

Lachs joined the appeals for unity, urging an end to "the internecine warfare that saps the strength of our community." He recommended that lesbian and gay lawyers work within the mainstream of the legal com-

Most of the conferees appeared to support the concept of coalition. Even in the potentially div-munity and break down negative isive area of pornography, the stereotypes of lesbians and gay subject of the second plenary men. session, there was a surprising degree of consensus.

The American Civil Liberties Union representative, Professor Thomas Kerr, who initially maintained that the First Amendment allows "no law ... abridging the freedom of speech," later focused on reforms aimed at reducing the harshness of antipornography laws, e.g., only allowing one prosecution in each state, instead of one prosecution in each locality.

And Holly Ladd, of the Women's Law Collective in Boston, who spoke of the need to

Drawing on his own experience as the first openly gay judge in the U.S. (see GCN, Vol. 7, No. 11), he described the changed attitudes of his judicial colleagues: "I would bet that, if there were a child custody case, for example, in one of the courts, it would be a little harder for a judge to mentally rule out a lesbian mother as the person who should receive the child, after that judge has just had lunch with me."

Most important, according to Lachs, is the procuring of the best legal talent for lesbian and

gay rights litigation, even if it is necessary to bring people from around the nation, and even enlisting the support of people who would not be "philosophically pure."

In line with Lachs's call for the "honing of our legal skills," the specialized workshops offered several kinds of educational experiences.

One innovative workshop was a demonstration of the use of a psychiatrist as an "expert witness" in a custody trial. While the presentation made clear how useful professional opinions can be in persuading a judge that a lesbian mother can be a good parent, the cross-examination revealed the possible pitfalls.

For example, the psychiatrist relied on a theory that a child's "core gender identity" is fixed at a very early age, but was forced to concede that contemporary psychological theories do not acturally predict when sexual orientation is developed. The simulation, which assumed a homophobic judge, also showed that obnoxious questions about "What do they do in bed?" can sometimes be asked.

The rest of the workshops used the traditional lecture and/or discussion formats. In some workshops, experienced presenters provided detailed informa-

tion. Outlines of such topics as artificial insemination, employment discrimination, the military, international law and financial aspects of relationships, should now be available from the Lesbian and Gay Law Caucus, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Forbes and Bouquet, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.

Other workshops served to exchange information and views on topics such as forming law student organizations, organizing political campaigns, and combatting police abuse. In this latter area, for example, there was a split in opinion as to the preferability of litigation as opposed to education of police officers.

Several workshops focused on political organizing rather than litigation.

As for the next conference, the Board of Directors of the conference will decide within a month on the site, probably to be either Philadelphia, Houston or Los Angeles. The date has not been chosen yet, but most board members agreed that this conference should not conflict with the Women and the Law Conference held each April.

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