In 2022, the Supreme Court decided some of the most consequential rights cases impacting LGBTQ rights in the country’s history — These include Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which overturned Roe v. Wade and has potential implications for cases that recognize a constitutional right to same-sex marriage and sexual freedom. This year, the Court is poised to decide another case that will significantly impact LGBTQ rights as well: 303 Creative v. Elenis, which may limit anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people.
This event convenes civil rights attorneys, policymakers, and legal scholars in a discussion about how the new Court is re-shaping LGBTQI+ rights.
Panelists:
Heath Fogg Davis (He/Him) is a professor of political science at Temple University and the director of Temple’s Intellectual Heritage Program. His groundbreaking book, Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter? has been named a must-read by Newsweek. The book offers practical strategies to help organizations of all kinds design and implement policies that are both trans-inclusive and institutionally smart. His commentary has appeared in Sports Illustrated, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Christian Science Monitor, Women’s Health Magazine and on MSNBC, National Public Radio, and C-SPAN Book TV. He has served as an appointed member of the Mayor’s Commission on LGBT Affairs in Philadelphia.
Kevin Jennings (He/Him) is the CEO of Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of LGBTQ people. Formerly president of the Tenement Museum, Kevin’s contributions to the LGBTQ movement began in 1988, when he helped students create the first school-based Gay-Straight Alliance club, leading him to found and lead the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) for 18 years. He then served as an Assistant Secretary of Education for President Obama, after which he led the Arcus Foundation, the world’s largest foundation for LGBTQ rights organizations. He is also a Lambda Literary Award-winning author of books including Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son: A Memoir of Growing Up, Coming Out, and Changing America’s Schools. He is currently an Eva Kasten Grove Leader at Roosevelt House.
Shayna Medley (She/They) is a staff attorney at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF). Founded in 2003, TLDEF’s mission is to end discrimination and achieve equality for transgender people, particularly those in our most vulnerable communities. TLDEF’s activities include pathbreaking trans rights cases and “friend of the court” briefs regarding the key issues of employment, health care, education and public accommodations. Shayna is a visiting professor at the Cardozo School of Law teaching Trans & Reproductive Justice. Previously, Shayna and was a legal fellow with the Center for Reproductive Rights, where they served as counsel on the Dobbs case, and the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project, where their work focused on educational rights for transgender youth in schools.
Joanna Wuest (She/Her) is an incoming Assistant Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College and a Fund for Reunion-Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in LGBT Studies in the Princeton University Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts. Her research focuses on identity, political economy, and American Constitutionalism. Her work on the American LGBTQI+ Movement has appeared or is forthcoming in journals including Perspectives on Politics; Polity; Politics & Gender; Law & Social Inquiry; GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies; and nonsite, the Law and Political Economy Project blog. Her writing has also appeared in The Nation, Boston Review, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Dissent, and Jacobin. She is the author of forthcoming book Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement.
This event is co-sponsored by the CUNY LGBTQ Advisory Council and it is made possible by the generous support of the New York City Council and the CUNY LGBTQ Consortium.
