Columbia Journal of Gender and Law articles from September 2008

Columbia Journal of Gender and Law archives from September 2008

Family law cases as law reform litigation: unrecognized parents and the story of Alison D. v. Virginia M.
September 22, 2008... Although the gap between law and lived experience comes as no surprise to most people, the divergence is especially striking--and disturbing--in the area of family law. Legal training quickly reveals that love is not a foundational element of...

The cultural property claim within the same-sex marriage controversy.
September 22, 2008... Partisans in the contemporary controversy over same-sex marriage and marriage equality often use the rhetoric of "access" and "exclusion" to frame their positions. These terms are also used to stake out positions on how to resolve conflicts...

The Equal Rights Amendment: then and now.
September 22, 2008... Far from a dead letter, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is currently pending in both houses of Congress. (1) When Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) reintroduced the ERA in the Senate on March 27, 2007, he particularly stressed the economic...

Should a trip from Illinois to Tennessee change a woman into a man? Proposal for a Uniform Interstate Sex Reassignment Recognition Act.
September 22, 2008... In Illinois, a transgender woman (1) who has had sex reassignment surgery can request an amendment to her birth certificate to change her legally-recognized sex (legal sex) (2) from the sex assigned at birth to one she chooses later in life....

The imprecise draftsmanship of the Lautenberg Amendment and the resulting problems for the judiciary.
September 22, 2008... In 1996, Congress passed the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban ("Lautenberg Amendment"), a controversial amendment to the Gun Control Act (1) that makes it unlawful for individuals previously convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence...