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Gleason Kettel Summer Fellows |
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Thanks to a generous gift from philanthropists Mike Gleason and Dave Kettel, the Gleason Kettel Summer Fellowship was created to provide two outstanding law students or recent law school graduates with a $5,000 stipend to spend the summer working with an organization, scholar, or research center, focused on sexual orientation law and public policy. 2008 Gleason Kettel Summer Fellow: Dana O'Day-Senior Dana
O'Day-Senior
Dana will be completing a joint internship this summer working as a law clerk for both the National Center for Lesbian rights and the Transgender Law Center. As a part of this joint internship, she will be assisting with all aspects of both organizations’ litigation, public policy, and educational work in the area of civil rights for transgender people. Specifically, Dana will be researching avenues for increasing access to health care for transgender people in California; working to eradicate insurance exclusions for transgender people, including advocating with public and private employers to stop the practice of excluding transgender people from coverage; and researching and supporting the implementation of California's non-discrimination laws in schools. She is grateful to be receiving a Gleason/Kettel Summer Law Fellowship for this work, and thanks the Williams Institute for this wonderful opportunity! 2008 Gleason Kettel Summer Fellow: Eli White Eli White
This summer, Eli will be working as an intern at Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) in Washington D.C. SLDN is a national, non-profit legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and related forms of intolerance. Their goals include lifting the ban on preventing gays, lesbians and bisexuals from serving openly and honestly in the military, providing free legal services to service members harmed by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and related discriminatory policies, and to protect service members from harassment based on perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. As an intern, Eli will work to support SLDN’s legal services, litigation, and policy programs, including counseling clients with attorney supervision and production of 2-3 written work products. The internship includes the opportunity to master a substantive area of military law as it applies to gays, lesbians, and transgendered service members, as well as direct experience with constitutional law, civil rights, and administrative practice. Furthermore, Eli will obtain significant policy advocacy and legal aid experience as SLDN provides needed aid to military members serving across the globe, while simultaneously actively pursuing government action to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” 2007 Gleason Kettel Summer Fellow: Amanda Pearlman Amanda Pearlman
2007 Gleason Kettel Summer Fellow: Desmund Wu Desmund Wu
Desmund Wu, who just finished his 1L year at UCLA Law, will be working as a summer intern at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. Lambda Legal is a national non-profit organization dedicated to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. Through litigation, Lambda Legal is fighting to set precedent for a broad range of rights. Desmund is proud that he will be helping the attorneys at Lambda Legal with the legal research supporting those cases. He will also be working directly with members of the community who need legal information and assistance at Lambda’s help desk. "I eventually want to return to Lambda to help secure the rights of LGBTs and those living with HIV, and I am grateful to the Williams Institute and Mike Gleason and David Kettel’s fellowship for giving me the opportunity to start my legal career doing such great work at such a great place."
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Dana
O’Day-Senior was born and raised in Southern Maine and got
involved in activism at a very young age. In high school,
she graduated at the top of her class all while campaigning
for LGBT rights both on and off campus. After a few years
at the University of Maine, Dana moved to Seattle,
Washington where she finished her undergraduate degree at
the University of Washington, Tacoma. In addition to work
and school, Dana was active in the Washington State
Democratic party, serving as an Executive Board member for
her legislative district, and participating in various
progressive campaigns. Dana had the pleasure of
volunteering for Washington Won’t Discriminate, the LGBT
rights organization whose “decline to sign” campaign
successfully kept a referendum off the ballot that would
have sought to repeal the newly added protections for sexual
orientation and gender identity from Washington’s anti
discrimination bill. Dana is now a law student at the
University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San
Francisco with an expected graduation date of May 2009. In
2007–2008, Dana served in various offices for student and
pro bono organizations, including Treasurer of Outlaw,
Hastings LGBT student organization. She also planned,
organized, and co-chaired the Transposium, UC Hastings’
first-ever symposium on transgender legal rights. The event
was great learning experience and a huge success. 
Eli
White recently finished her first year of law school at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Originally from
Woodridge, Illinois, Eli attended Marquette University on an
Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corp scholarship. While
at Marquette, Eli was a member and served as captain of the
Marquette Women’s Rugby Team, earning Division I First Team
All-American Honors. Upon graduation in 2003, Eli was
commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air
Force, and was stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base,
Massachusetts, as a Security Forces Officer. In just over
three years of active duty, Eli served as a law enforcement
flight leader, executive officer, and installation
antiterrorism officer. She also deployed as the Operations
Officer to the Provost Marshal’s Office at Camp Anaconda,
Balad, Iraq, where she led 45 military policemen and five
military working dog teams responsible for all law
enforcement duties on the installation comprised over 27,000
personnel. Eli separated from the Air Force in September
2006, and traveled throughout the world before entering law
school, including an extended trip to Costa Rica,
volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in India, and
trekking to Mt. Everest Base Camp in Nepal. She is
interested in a career in sexual orientation and public
interest law. 
