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Part of Demanding their rights: Law and gay community subject of conference
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Demanding theirrightB
Law and.gay-conununity
subject of conference
by Jacqui Schock
Spectrum Staff Writer
A day-long conference on Gay
Rights and the Law will be
offered today by the Student Bar
Association of the Law SchooL
"We must_ show people what
t)ley can do to change many of
the unfair laws that directly affect
the gay community," asserted
Shelley
Taylor
Convissar,
conference project director. "The
law school offers no courses on
this topic and . does not train
to
deal
with gay
lawyers
problems,
such
as retaining
custody of their children," she
explained .
"When their homosexuality is
discovered, they · are fired from
federal
and
Civil
service
positions," she said. Gay law
students . have difficulty getting
accepted into the Bar Association,
she added.
feature nationally-known experts
in the field of gay rights, including
E . Carrington Boggan, director of
the
Lambda Defense Fund;
Franklin Kameny, well-known
lobbyist and President of the
Washington, D.C. chapter of the
Mattachine
Society ;
Bruce
Voeller, executive director of the
National Gay Task' Force ; and
local gay activists.
Liberating force
· "We hope this conference will
be a liberating force for the Gay
Movement and will erase many of
the stereotypes many people hold.
The
American
Psychological
Association. has stated that they
feel homosexuality is not a mental
illness," Ms. Convissar explained.
A film has ·been ordered which
portrays a lesbian family and the
children raised in it. The children
are all heterosexual ·and did not
display any damaging effects from
being raised in this environment.
The film will -be shown directly
Five areas
The conference, which will after . the panel discussion on
cover five · areas in law oC Family Property Law at 2 p.m.
particular relevance to the gay
The conference is being funded
community, will include law by three groups : The Student Bar
school professors, lo.cal attorneys, Association, the Law School
judges,
and
nationally-known Division of the American Bar
experts in the field. Panel Association, and the Mitchell
discussions
will
include: Lecture Series, a State University
Legislation
and
Litigation at Buffalo Law School fund.
Potential ( 10 a.m.); Employment
It will be held in Johp Lord
Discrimination
(11
a.m.); O'Brian Hall from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Student-Civil Rights ( 12 noon); All discussions before 1 p.m. will
Family Property Law (2 p.m.); be in. the Moot Court Room. The
and Criminal Law (3 p.m.). A remaining events and the film will
Buffalo
Police
Department be 'in Room 106. Tb.e event is free
Captain
will
discuss
the and
open
to
the
public.
constitutionality
of
the Participants are atso invited to
concensual sodomy laws in New attend an infor~al rec~ptiop
York State.
immediately
followin~ _ the
• The
conference
will
also
conference.
..