Global Arc of Justice Schedule, March 11-14, 2009

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Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009



Wednesday, March 11, 2009

8:00 am - 5:30 pm		Registration Location: UCLA School of Law, Foyer

9:00 am - 3:00 pm		Working Group: Implementation of the Yogyakarta Principles Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm		Lunch Location: UCLA School of Law, Lincoln Alcove

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm		Working Group: Implementation of the Yogyakarta Principles (cont.) Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm		Working Group: Strategies for Advancing the Rights of Same-Sex Couples Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448


		*The Opening Plenary Event is Free and Open to the Public - Please visit the Registration Page to RSVP (space is limited):

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm		Opening Plenary: LGBT Rights In Latin America, followed by Desert Reception, Hosted by the City of West Hollywood

		Location: Pacific Design Center, Green Building, Silver Screen Theater 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood (Parking $8 - Enter lot on Melrose Avenue. Metered street parking also available)

		Description: This two hour panel will provide an overview of recent advances in LGBT rights in Latin America. Topics covered will include the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Colombia requiring that all of the rights of marriage be extended to same-sex couples; the adoption of a new constitution in Ecuador which extends civil unions to same-sex couples as a constitutional right and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; a case from Chile now pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in which a lesbian judge was stripped of the custody of her children; and a campaign in Mexico to fight both HIV and homophobia.

		Welcome:
		David B. Cruz, Professor of Law, USC School of Law & President, ILGLaw Brad Sears, Executive Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law John J. Duran, Councilmember, City of West Hollywood John Heilman, Councilmember, City of West Hollywood

		Moderator:
		Javier Corrales, Visiting Scholar, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, Associate Professor of Political Science, Amherst College
		Panelists:
		Karen Atala Riffo, Jueza de Garantía, Santiago, Chile Tatiana Cordero, Executive Director, Corporación Promoción de la Mujer/Taller de Comunicación Mujer, Human Rights Lawyer, Ecuador Germán Rincón Perfetti, Human Rights Lawyer, ILGLaw Board of Directors (South America), Colombia Jorge Saavedra MD, Chief of Global Affairs, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Amsterdam

9:30 pm		Out in West Hollywood Cocktail Party, Sponsored by Here Lounge Location: Here Lounge, 696 N. Robertson Boulevard, West Hollywood


To jump to a specific day, use the following links:
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009



Thursday, March 12, 2009

8:00 am - 6:30 pm		Registration Location: UCLA School of Law, Foyer

9:00 am- 10:20 am		Working Group: Implementation of the Yogyakarta Principles (cont.) Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448

		Concurrent Sessions I

		Latin American Track - Brazil: Judicial Recognition of Same-Sex Couples and Their Families Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1457

		Description: This eighty minute session will explore the rights of LGBT people in Brazil, with a focus on the advancement of the rights of same-sex couples and families through litigation and the response of the Brazilian judiciary. Three panelists will explore the process by which same-sex couples' struggles have moved from civil courts as contract matters to family courts, and compare that process to the development of legal recognition of common law spouses in Brazil; the influence of moral beliefs and public opinion on judicial decisions about same sex marriage; and the judicial treatment of same-sex couples parenting children in Brazil.

		Moderator:
		Chris Ramos, Research Assistant, The Williams Institute, United States
		Panelists:
		Sueann Caulfield, Associate Professor of History University of Michigan, United States, presenting De Facto Unions to Legitimate Family: Same-Sex Couples' Legal Struggles in Brazilian Family Courts, 1988-Present Heloisa Melino de Moraes, Graduate Student, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, presenting Family Configurations in Brazil: The Same-Sex Family

		Regional Track - Coming to America: LGBT Travel, Immigration, & Asylum Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1337

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will address issues in immigration, travel, asylum, and refugee law and their impact on LGBT persons and persons with HIV/AIDS seeking to travel to the U.S., Canada and other countries. The three panelists will discuss the challenges of preparing and presenting sexual orientation and HIV/AIDS based asylum cases in the United States in comparison to Canda and Europe, how US laws concerning travel by individuals with HIV/AIDS, including recent statutory changes, compare to laws in Europe and Candaa; recent developments concerning HIV/AIDS as grounds for asylum; the recent deportation of migrant workers in Southeast and Northeast Asia and the Middle East if they test positive for HIV; how conditions in detention facilities in the U.S. compare to those in Europe; difficulties obtaining asylum stemming from limitations of human rights organizations’ documentation procedures for abuses against LGBT communities; and increased difficulties in obtaining refugee status in Canada as a result of recent shifts in the refugee process.

		Moderator:
		Christine A. Littleton, Professor of Law and Women's Studies Chair, Department of Women's Studies, Faculty Advisory Chair, The Williams Institute, United States
		Panelists:
		Ally Bolour, Member of the Board, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Immigration Attorney, Law Offices of Ally Bolour, United States Nicole LaViolette, Associate Professor & Vice Dean, Faulty of Law at the University of Ottawa, Canada, presenting Human Rights Documentation & Sexual Minorities: An Ongoing Challenge for the Canadian Refugee Determination Process Fatma E. Marouf, Attorney, Adjunct Professor of Law, University of La Verne College of Law, United States, presenting Global Developments in the Exclusion, Deportation and Detention of Individuals with HIV

		Global Track - Families Redefined: Kinship Groups that Deserve Benefits Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2326

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will present research concerning U.S. rejections of families that do not meet the ideal form and the resulting punishment of adults and children who would flourish if other family structures were legitimized. The three panelists will analyze national (United States) and international law (with a focus on Canada, South Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America) in conjunction with a discussion of the emotional and psychological effects of not recognizing alternative family structures.

		Moderator:
		Clifford J. Rosky, Associate Professor of Law, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Jane Cross, Associate Professor of Law, Director of Caribbean Law Programs, Shepard Broad Law Center, Nova Southeastern University, United States, Nan Palmer, Professor of Social Work, Washburn University, United States, and Charlene L. Smith, Professor of Law, Shepard Broad Law Center, Co Director of the Inter American Center for Human Rights, Nova Southeastern University, United States, co-presenting Families Redefined: Kinship Groups That Deserve Benefits

10:20 am- 10:40 am		Break

10:40 am- 12:00 pm		Working Group: Implementation of the Yogyakarta Principles (cont.) Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448

		Concurrent Sessions II

		Latin American Track - Chile & Peru Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1337

		Description: This eighty minute session will explore the rights of LGBT people in Chile and Peru. Panelists will present a qualitative investigation of Peru's LGBT families with a focus on their lack of legal recognition; examine the extent to which advances of the rights of LGBT people in Chile are occurring through the judiciary as opposed to the legislature and the implications of relying on the judiciary; and an overview of the current state of the transgender rights movement in Chile with a special focus on the distinct social experiences of male and female transgender people. Panelists will not only explore the current state of LGBT rights in Chile and Peru but present proposals for further policy initiatives.

		Moderator:
		Chris Ramos, Research Assistant, The Williams Institute, United States
		Panelists:
		Alejandro Merino Rosas, Civil Engineer, Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Representative, Encuentros Instituto para la Promoción de la Diversidad y la Cultura and Red Peruana TLGB, Peru, presenting Families and sexual diversity, knowledge of rights, social and legal recognition in Lima, Peru: A multidimensional analysis Penny Miles, PhD Student, Social Sciences, Cardiff University, United Kingdom, presenting Negotiating the Chilean State: Judicialization as a Viable Alternative for LGBTTI Rights Gains? Andrés Ignacio Rivera Duarte, Founder, Organización de Transexuales por la Dignidad de la Diversidad, Chile, presenting Chilean Reality Male Transexuals

		Regional Track - LGBT Jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice & the European Court of Human Rights Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1457

		Description: This eighty minute panel will highlight the accomplishments and limits of the human rights jurisprudence that has emerged from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Court of Justice. The four panelists will address the force of “morality”-based defenses to charges of human rights violations by European Union member states; the conditions (including the socio-cultural and legal landscapes) that allowed the progress before the ECHR regarding the right of gay and lesbian people to adopt children and concerns about possible backlash.

		Moderator:
		Christine A. Littleton, Professor of Law and Women's Studies Chair, Department of Women's Studies, Faculty Advisory Chair, The Williams Institute, United States
		Panelists:
		Constantin Cojocariu, Lawyer, Europe Programme, INTERIGHTS, The International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights, UK, presenting The Treatment of Public Morality as an Obstacle to the Public Affirmation of Sexual Identity Before the European Court of Human Rights Dimitry Kochenov, Assistant Professor of European Law and Fellow of the Groningen Graduate School of Law, The Netherlands, presenting Trapped Between Innumerable Legal Systems: European Gays and the Notion of “Family” in the Light of the Recent Legal Developments in the European Union and the Council of Europe and The European Court of Justice Between Gays and Transsexuals: The Problematic Nature of the Self Imposed Divide Kathleen A. Doty, Judicial Clerk, Hon. Alexa D.M. Fujise on Hawai`i Intermediate Court of Appeals, Founding member of Hawai`i Lesbian and Gay Legal Association, United States, presenting From Fretté to E.B.: The European Court of Human Rights on Gay and Lesbian Adoption

		Issue Track - Safe Schools for LGBT Students & Teachers Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2326

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will address what law can do to address the problems that heterosexism and homophobia pose for both students and teachers. The three panelists will focus upon problems in the U.S. states of California and Texas as well as those in Bogota and the Colombian educational system more generally; explore relationships between the symbolic violence against LGBT youth and teachers and physical hate crimes; and suggest pedagogical approaches for intervening in these cycles and transforming schools into safe zones for LGBT students and teachers.

		Moderator:
		Doug NeJaime, Sears Law Teaching Fellow, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Catherine Connell, PhD Candidate, University of Texas at Austin, United States, presenting Teaching While Gay: LGBT Teachers Navigating Treacherous Legal and Social Terrains *Erik Werner Cantor,* Magister en Antropologia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Director, Corporación Promover Ciudadania, Colombia, presenting Homophobia and Coexistence in Colombian Schools Jairo Mauricio Pulecio Pulgarin, Researcher, PENSAR Institute of the Pontifica Universidad Javeriana—PUJB, Professor of Philosophy, Libertadores Law School, Colombia, presenting Violence Against LGBT Youth in Colombia’s Educational System

12:00 pm - 12:30 pm		Lunch Pick-up Location: UCLA School of Law, Lincoln Alcove

12:30 pm - 1:45 pm		Lunch Plenary Panel: Human Rights & Global Health: LGBT Equality & the Fight Against HIV/AIDS Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1347

		Description: This one-hour-and-fifteen-minute panel will explore the ways in which discrimination against sexual minorities can thwart efforts to combat HIV/AIDS globally. A human rights-based approach to HIV/AIDS – in addition to furthering the quest for global equality – is vital to an effective public health response to the disease. Professionals from both law and the health sciences will explore the connections and discuss strategies for moving forward. Panelists will discuss the ways in which heternormativity and regressive notions of masculinity thwart HIV/AIDS prevention efforts globally as well as specific obstacles to fighting HIV/AIDS in Egypt, South Africa, Mexico, and Peru, and current efforts to overcome those obstacles. The panel is co-sponsored by the UCLA Program in Global Health, David Geffen School of Medicine and the UCLA AIDS Institute.

		Welcome:
		David B. Cruz, Professor of Law, USC School of Law & President, ILGLaw

		Moderator:
		*Thomas J. Coates,* Director, UCLA Program in Global Health, Michael & Sue Steinberg Endowed Professor of Global AIDS Research, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCLA, United States
		Panelists:
		Stefan Baral MD MPH, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Epidemiology, Center for Public Health and Human Rights, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States *Carlos Caceres MD PhD,* Professor and Vice Dean, School of Public Health, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru *Scott Long,* Director, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Rights Division, Human Rights Watch, United States *Dean Peacock,* Co-founder & Co-director, Sonke Gender Justice Network, South Africa Jorge Saavedra, Chief of Global Affairs, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Amsterdam

1:45 pm - 2:00 pm		Break

2:00 pm - 3:15 pm		Concurrent Sessions III

		Latin American Track - LGBT Rights in Argentina Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1337

		Description: This one-hour-and-fifteen-minute panel will provide an overview of the current state of LGBT rights in Argentina and future goals for the country. The panel will consider recent developments in Argentina, which has the potential to follow in the footsteps of Spain in recognizing the legal rights of LGBT people. The transition to democracy began in Spain in 1975, with the death of Franco, and in Argentina in 1982, with the dictatorship's defeat in the Malvinas-Falklands War. Both countries now take human rights very seriously. In Argentina, LGBT people have progressed from fearing the police in the 1970s, to a constitutional prohibition of sexual orientation discrimination and a civil unions law in the City of Buenos Aires, with the prospect of similar progress at the federal level. Panelists will discuss existing and proposed legislation, changes in administrative practices, and past and pending litigation, including a marriage case.

		Moderator:
		Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law, King's College London, Member, European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL), United Kingdom
		Panelists:
		Federico Godoy, Lawyer, Beretta Godoy, Buenos Aires, Argentina Leonardo Raznovich, Director of the Division for Law and Dispute Resolution, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, United Kingdom Martha Miravete Cicero, Presidente Grupo de Mujeres de la Argentina - Foro de VIH Mujeres y Familia, Argentina

		Global Track - Global Perspectives on Transgender Rights Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1437

		Description: This one-hour-and-fifteen-minute panel brings together experts on transgender legal issues from across the globe to address the current state of transgender rights. The panelists will address the state of legal rights for transgender persons in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Latin America, including the variety of meanings of “gender identity” that can be discerned in various case law and legislative texts throughout Latin America.

		Moderator:
		David B. Cruz, Professor of Law, USC School of Law & President, ILGLaw, United States
		Panelists:
		Mauro Cabral, Professor, National University of Cordoba, Argentina, presenting Is There Someone There? The Notion of “Gender Identity” in Latin American Law from a Deconstructionist Perspective Richard Green, Professor, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, United Kingdom, presenting Transsexual Protections in Health Care, Employment, and Civil Status: The US and UK Compared Tamara M. Adrián Hernández, Professor of Law, Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Caracas and Universidad Central de Venezuela, ILGLaw Director (South America), Venezuela presenting Recent Evolution in Legal Recognition of Identity for Transsexual and Intersexual People in Latin America Marcela Romero, Regional Coordinator, Latin American and Caribbean Network of Transgender People, presenting The Latin American Trans Body: a State of Exception

		Issue Track - Stayin' Alive: Same Sex Pensions on Three Continents Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448

		Description: The worldwide HIV epidemic has left gay men grieving the loss of their partners, and the scourge of breast cancer has left lesbians struggling to raise their children alone. Unlike their heterosexual counterparts, these same sex survivors have often faced widowhood without the social recognition and practical support provided by pensions. The good news is that this has been changing. National, continental and global tribunals have been increasingly insisting on equal pensions for same sex couples. Three leading lawyers who have led successful judicial challenges for recovery of same sex pensions in North America, Europe and South America will present the front line perspective on these dramatic cases, and the implications for our community and our world.

		Moderator:
		Catherine Smith, Visiting Scholar, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Professor of Law, University of Denver School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		*R. Douglas Elliott,* Partner, Roy Elliott O'Connor LLP, Past President, ILGLaw, Canada Helmut Graupner, Co Coordinator, European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL), Director, ILGLaw (Europe), Austria Germán Rincón Perfetti, Director, ILGLaw (South America), Human Rights Lawyer, Colombia

3:15 pm - 3:30 pm		Break

3:30 pm - 4:30 pm		Working Group Report Out: Implementation of the Yogyakarta Principles Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1347

		Description: This one hour panel will provide a report on a day and half long working group held during the Global Arc of Justice conference on the implementation of the Yogyakarta Principles by lawyers and legal scholars. The goal of this report out session will be to share with the entire conference a summary of the discussion of the working group and to get feedback on suggestions for further implementation of the Yogyakarta principles. The panel will review the origins and intent of the principles; highlight a variety of issues and challenges for the principles, such as their relationship to international human rights law, their relevance to same-sex marriage advocacy, and the extent to which the principles can evolve to account for new norms; review where the principles have already been adopted, cited, and applied; and present new ideas for using the principles in courts, legal scholarship, and government; in various countries and regions, and in various areas of law.

		Moderator:
		Andrew Park, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Wellspring Advisors, United States
		Panelists:
		Boris Dittrich, Former Member of the Parliament, the Netherlands, Advocacy Director, LBGT Rights Program, Human Rights Watch, United States & The Netherlands Julie Dorf, Senior Advisor, The Council for Global Equality, United States

4:30 pm - 4:45 pm		Break

4:45 pm - 6:15 pm		Afternoon Plenary: International LGBT Human Rights: The Yogyakarta Principles Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1347

		Description: This ninety minute panel will provide an overview of the development, implementation, and limitations of the Yogyakarta Principles. The panel will discuss the origins of the principles and ways they are being implemented in specific countries and regions. For example, Nepal's Supreme Court recently recognized sexual orientation and gender identity as new categories for constitutional protection. Hari Phuyal, a leading lawyer on that case, will discuss how the principles were used in the case and further ways that the principles can lead to protection for transgender people in South Asia. The panel will conclude with two critiques of the principles. Mauro Cabral will deconstruct the Yogyakarta principles from a unique perspective: the relationships that the principles establish - ontological and normative and between identity and corporeality. Alice Miller will then analyze three movements currently being advanced by sexual rights activists— the declaration of sexual rights by International Planned Parenthood Federation; the Yogyakarta Principles; and the Campaign for a Convention on Sexual and Reproductive Rights— reflecting on synergies and gaps among these three standards.

		Moderator:
		*Douglas Sanders*, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Law, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada, LL.M. Professor, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
		Panelists:
		Mauro Cabral, Professor, National University of Córdoba, Argentina Sonia Corrêa, Research Associate, Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA), Co-Chair, Sexuality Policy Watch, Brazil *Alice Miller, Lecturer in Residence, Senior Fellow, Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice, UC Berkeley School of Law, United States Hari Phuyal,* International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Program Office, Nepal Hiroyuki Taniguchi, Research Associate, Waseda University, Japan


To jump to a specific day, use the following links:
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009



Friday, March 13, 2009

8:00 am - 9:00 pm		Registration Location: UCLA School of Law, Foyer

9:00 am - 10:20 am		Working Group: Strategies for Advancing the Rights of Same-Sex Couples (cont.) Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448

		Concurrent Sessions IV

		Latin American Track - The Caribbean, Cuba, & Puerto Rico Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1337

		Description: This eighty minute session will explore the rights of LGBT people in the Caribbean, with a focus on Cuba and Puerto Rico. Panelists will explore the effect of the divergence of a sexuality based human rights movement from the mainstream human rights movement in the English-speaking Caribbean; present an overview of recent developments in LGBT rights in Puerto Rico—including a recent executive order banning sexual orientation discrimination, efforts to pass a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage, and the impact of a new more conservative government coming into power in 2009; and a critical analysis of Mariela Castro’s (the daughter of the Cuban president) new agenda to increase tolerance of and freedom for the LGBT community in Cuba.

		Moderator:
		Saúl Sarabia, Lecturer in Law & Administrative Director, UCLA School of Law, Critical Race Studies Program, United States
		Panelists:
		Daniel A. Townsend, Co-Chair for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Task Force of the Youth Coalition for Sexual Reproductive Rights, Jamaica, presenting Broken Ground: The Estrangement of Human Rights and Sexuality Based Organizations in the Caribbean Olga I. Orraca-Paredes, Co-Founder, Taller Lésbico Creativo, Puerto Rico, presenting Advances and Political and Social Challenges of the LGBT Movement in Puerto Rico: Revising Strategies for the Resistance Matthew Reeg, Law Student at Washington University School of Law, United States, presenting Coming Out of the People's Closet: The Rhetoric and Response of Socialist Regimes Confronting Gay Rights

		Regional Track - LGBT Rights in North America Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2326

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will examine a number of facets of the legal treatment of LGBT persons and rights in Canada and the United States through comparative and interdisciplinary lenses. The four panelists will discuss Quebec’s law allowing two women to be identified as a child’s lawful parents from birth, to the exclusion of sperm donor; the gender-normalizing treatment of same-sex affection and intimacy in U.S. family law decisions; the United States’ “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) and the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution; and the benefits to lawyers and non-lawyers from adopting qualitative approaches to the study of culture and history as they bear on social movements for LGBT rights.

		Moderator:
		Kim Pearson, Law Teaching Fellow, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Robert Leckey, Assistant Professor, McGill University, Faculty of Law, Canada, presenting Law’s Lesbians: The Assumptions Animating Quebec’s Reforms to Filiation Clifford J. Rosky, Associate Professor of Law, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, United States, presenting Don’t Kiss, Don’t Tell: The Regulation of Lesbian and Gay Intimacy in Family Law Mark Strasser, Trustees Professor of Law, Capital University Law School, United States, presenting After DOMA C. Todd White, Visiting Assistant Professor, James Madison University, Lead Ethnographer, Rutgers University Libraries, United States, presenting Pre-Gay L.A.: A Social History of the Movement for Homosexual Rights

		Issue Track - The Rights of Transgender and Intersex People Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1457

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will examine gender identity and human morphology in a number of ways. The panelists will address ways in which government might intervene in family arrangements to protect LGBT youth from their parents’ demands that they assimilate to dominant gender norms; the struggles of trans and intersex people in South Africa and the failure of implementation of the Sex Description Act 2003 Amendment (which allows a person to change sex on a birth certificate without undergoing genital surgery); and whether and to what extent the interests of trans persons and those of intersex persons are allied in ways that warrant including intersex persons in LGBT organizations and legal/political mobilizations.

		Moderator:
		Stefano Fabeni, Program Director, LGBTI Initiative, United States
		Panelists:
		Caroline Bowley, Administration Officer, Gender DynamiX, South Africa, presenting Legal Change of Sex Description in South Africa Julie Greenberg, Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, United States & Anne Tamar Mattis, Founder and Executive Director, Advocates for Informed Choice, United States, presenting To Add or Not to Add the ‘I’ to GLBTQ: What Does It Mean to the Intersex Community? Orly Rachel Rachmilovitz, S.J.D. Student, University of Virginia School of Law, United States/Israel, presenting In Their Image? Children’s Identity, Parents’ Assimilation Demands, and State Intervention

10:20 am- 10:40 pm		Break

10:40 am- 12:00 pm		Working Group: Strategies for Advancing the Rights of Same-Sex Couples (cont.) Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448

		Concurrent Sessions V

		Latin American Track - Trans-Films (this panel will conclude at 12:10 pm) Location: UCLA School of Law, Room A122

		Description: This ninety minute session will explore the legal rights of transgender people in Latin America through two recent documentaries. The first film, En el Fuego, by filmmaker Dante Alencastre, explores the experiences and legal advocacy efforts of transgender people in Lima, Peru. The film documents how transgender people live without legal protection and navigate and overcome transphobia and violence. In 2007, En el Fuego was voted the best short documentary by the audience at FUSION, the only LGTB People of Color Film Festival – held each year in Los Angeles. The second film, by filmmaker Monica Leon, Hotel Gondolin, documents the lives of a group of transsexual and transgender women who squat at an abandoned hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina and then organize to advance their legal rights and protect themselves from violence and harassment by the police. The session will include 30 minutes screenings of each film followed by a discussion with the directors. Full screenings of each film will be offered on Thursday night, March 12 in the Conference Room at the Ramada Plaza Suites in West Hollywood, starting at 8 p.m.

		Moderator:
		Saúl Sarabia, Lecturer in Law & Administrative Director, UCLA School of Law - Critical Race Studies Program, United States
		Panelists:
		Dante Alencastre, Trans and Film Activist, United States and Belissa Andía Pérez, Trans Secretariat to the ILGA Executive Board, Regional Secretary ILGA LAA, founder of Red Carnation, Peru co-presenting En el Fuego: Doing it for Ourselves Mónica León, Trans and Film Activist, Argentina/France presenting Hotel Gondolin

		Regional Track - LGBT Rights in Africa Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1337

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will address the current and future landscape for LGBT rights in Africa. The panelists will discuss criminal laws, partnership laws, and civil discrimination against LGBT persons in Africa. A defense attorney from Morocco will detail the arrest, trial, and conviction of “sexual perversion” on the basis of evidence only of sexual orientation of six men following rumors of an alleged gay marriage in Morocco; a second panelist will discuss societal/political backlash resulting from the 2005 decision by South Africa’s Constitutional Court mandating recognition of marriage for same-sex couples and analyze the stability of this decision; and another will trace the history of discrimination against the LGBTI community in Uganda and the Ugandan government’s exclusion of LGBTI people from social programs; the final speaker will discuss the LGBT community in Rwanda, the human rights violations they face, and the small but growing LGBT movement in the country.

		Moderator:
		Doug NeJaime, Sears Law Teaching Fellow, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		*Abdelaziz Nouaydi,* Attorney, Founding Member, Moroccan Organization of Human Rights, Professor of Constitutional Law and Human rights at Mohamed V University Rabat, Morocco, presenting Lessons from the Case of Ksar el Kebir Brian Ray, Assistant Professor of Law, Cleveland Marshall College of Law, United States, presenting A Tale of Two Countries: Constitutions, Social Change and the Story of South Africa's Civil Union Act Pepe Julian Onziema, Human Rights Defender/LGBTI Rights Advocate, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Uganda, presenting Discrimination: Ugandan Law and LGBTI Persons Rumuli Patrick, Activist and Student, International School of Business and Technology, Rwanda

		Global Track - Universal Rights v. National Cultures Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1437

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will explore tensions between projects that seek to advance LGBT rights through deployment of notions of universal rights and the variety of local contexts and cultures that can call into question global prescriptions for progress. The three panelists will examine these tensions and address “cultural relativism” arguments concerning the propriety and desirability of international human rights treaties expressly protecting against sexual orientation discrimination; the geographic and cultural specificity of Western concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity and how international human rights can take those limits into account to develop progressive frameworks; and explore the limitations of Western human rights jurisprudence in settings such as Latin America and Cyprus.

		Moderator:
		David Kaye, Executive Director, International Human Rights Program, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Judith Faucette, Law Student, University of Iowa College of Law, United States, presenting Affirming Equality: An Argument for Express Recognition of the Prohibition on Orientation Based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law Nayia Kamenou, Ph.D Candidate, European Studies Department, King’s College of London, United Kingdom, presenting The Construction of National Identity, Gender and Sexuality in Cyprus, and the Role of European Human Rights for LGBTQ people Craig Konnoth, Law Student, Yale Law School; Co-Chair, National Lesbian and Gay Law Association Student Division, United States, presenting Avoiding Equal Protection’s Identity Colonialism in Courts Through Privacy Arguments

		Issue Track - Out at Work: Employment Discrimination Against LGBT Persons Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2326

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will consider sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in workplaces in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean. Specific problems to be addressed will include the declared religious motives of some faith-based organizations to discriminate against LGBT persons; the consequences of excluding gender identity protection from ENDA (the proposed federal law against sexual orientation discrimination in employment); and how to develop effective workplace leadership among members of LGBT communities.

		Moderator:
		Kim Pearson, Law Teaching Fellow, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Akim Adé Larcher, Equity and Diversity Coordinator, Eagle Canada, Canada, presenting After Same Sex Marriage: Religious Rights vs. LGBT Human Rights in the Americas Federico Podeschi, Managing Director, LGBT Excellence Centre, Wales, presenting Leading the Gay Way Jill D. Weinberg, M.A. Candidate, University of Chicago, United States, presenting Conflating Gender and Sexual Orientation: The Implications for Excluding Gender Identity from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm		Lunch Location: Courtyard, Freud Playhouse, UCLA

		*The Friday Afternoon Schedule (1-6:30PM) is Free and Open to the Public - Please visit the Registration Page to RSVP (space is limited):

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm		Plenary: Supreme Court Perspectives on LGBT Rights Location: Freud Playhouse at Macgowan Hall, UCLA

		Description: This ninety minute panel will provide a unique and rare opportunity to hear from members of three nation’s supreme courts about LGBT rights. Justice Bala Ram K.C. of the Supreme Court of Nepal, Justice Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni of the Supreme Court of Argentina, and Justice Michael Donald Kirby of the High Court of Australia will each provide a view from the top on recent developments in LGBT rights in their countries and then answer questions from the audience.

		Welcome:
		Brad Sears, Executive Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Unites States

		Moderator:
		Máximo Langer, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Justice Bala Ram KC, Supreme Court of Nepal, Nepal *Justice Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni, Supreme Court of Argentina, Argentina Justice Michael Donald Kirby*, High Court of Australia, Austrailia

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm		Break

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm		Concurrent Sessions VI

		Latin American Track - Regional Efforts to Advance LGBT Rights Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1447

		Description: This ninety minute session will explore efforts to advance LGBT Rights within political and economic regional structures in Europe and Latin America, including the Council of Europe, the European Union, the Organization of American States, and Mercosur. Topics discussed will include decisions by the European Court of Justice; decisions by the European Court of Human Rights; use of the EU accession process to advance LGBT rights in Eastern Europe, and efforts to advance LGBT rights within the Organization of American States, including before the Inter-American Court on Human Right and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

		Moderator:
		Darren Rosenblum, Associate Professor of Law, Pace Law School, United States
		Panelists:
		Sonia Corrêa, Research Associate, Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA), Co-Chair, Sexuality Policy Watch, Brazil Helmut Graupner, Co-Coordinator, European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL), Director, ILGLaw Europe, Austria María José Lubertino, President, Instituto Nacional contra la Discriminación, la Xenophobia y el Racismo (INADI), Argentina Peter Schieder, Honorary President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Austria Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law, King's College London, Member, European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL), United Kingdom

		Regional Track - 5th Annual Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Moot Court Competition: Don't Ask, Don't Tell Location: Freud Playhouse at Macgowan Hall, UCLA

		Description: This ninety minute session will offer a unique and interactive way for attendees to learn about the constitutionality of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy that effectively prohibits openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the United States armed forces. By reading the bench brief and other materials for the competition and listening to the oral argument, attendees will hear an in-depth examination of the Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas United States Supreme Court cases; recent case law challenging Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; and the polices of other countries with regards to LGBT people serving in the military. In particular, the session will focus on the levels of scrutiny under the equal protection and due process clauses in U.S. constitutional jurisprudence and how Lawrence v. Texas may have changed the Court’s substantive due process analysis. The final round of the moot court competition will be judged by three sitting judges of state supreme courts in the United States. The session will begin with an overview of the problem and relevant case law.

		Moderator:
		Nan Hunter, Legal Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, United States
		Judges:
		Presiding Justice Carol W. Hunstein, Supreme Court of Georgia, United States Justice Virginia L. Linder, Supreme Court of Oregon, United States Justice Patricio M. Serna, Supreme Court of New Mexico, United States
		Teams:
		Florida Coastal School of Law v. New York University School of Law

		Global Track - Repealing Sodomy Laws in Former British Colonies Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1357

		Description: This ninety minute session will focus on ongoing litigation and other strategies to repeal sodomy laws in countries that were formerly British colonies and which adopted a version of Britain’s penal code 377. Panelists will discuss trans-national strategies as well as specific efforts in the Caribbean, Guyana, India, and Kenya. With recent repeals in Nicaragua and Panama, no Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America have sodomy laws. However, same-sex sexual behavior is still criminalized in Jamaica; Guyana; Dominica; Belize; Antigua & Barbuda; Barbados; Grenada; St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; and Trinidad and Tobago. Panelists will discuss the use of arguments based on preventing HIV/AIDS as a basis for decriminalization; putting pressure on the United Kingdom to participate in undoing this legacy of its colonization; and the use of litigation to launch public education campaigns about LGBT rights.

		Moderator:
		Stefano Fabeni, Program Director, LGBTI Initiative, United States
		Panelists:
		Andil Gosine, Associate Professor, York University, Canada Alok Gupta, Lawyer, Bombay High Court, India Pouline Kimani, Kenya Human Rights Commission and Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya, Kenya Douglas Sanders, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, LL.M. Professor, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Joel Simpson, Co-Chairperson, Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Guyana

4:30 pm - 5:00 pm		Break

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm		Plenary: National Leaders: What National Governments Are Doing to Advance LGBT Rights Location: Freud Playhouse at Macgowan Hall, UCLA

		Description: This ninety minute session will explore the proactive role that some nations are taking in fighting discrimination against LGBT people both within their borders and internationally. For much of the history of LGBT rights, national governments have been seen as perpetrators of discrimination—the defendants in LGBT rights cases. More recently, several countries have started national programs to fight homophobia and transphobia. The session will begin with presentations by representatives of three countries which have taken the lead: Brazil, Argentina, and the Netherlands. The panelists will discuss the “Brazil Without Homophobia” program, which includes a national education campaign and a national LGBT rights conference; a similar program in Argentina as well as a discussion of Argentina’s efforts to promote LGBT rights throughout South America; and the Netherlands’ efforts through its foreign service to actively protect the human rights of LGBT people around the world. These presentations will be followed by a discussion by former U.S. Ambassador Michael Guest about whether similar efforts can be expected from the Obama Administration and his work with the newly formed Council for Global Equality.

		Moderator:
		Brad Sears, Executive Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Unites States
		Panelists:
		Paulo Biagi, Director, Brazil Without Homophobia, Secretary of State for Human Rights, Brazil Boris Dittrich, Former Member Parliament, the Netherlands, Advocacy Director, LBGT Rights Program, Human Rights Watch, United Stated & The Netherlands Michael Guest, Former U.S. Ambassador to Romania, Senior Advisor, Council for Global Equality, United States María José Lubertino, President, Instituto Nacional contra la Discriminación, la Xenophobia y el Racismo (INADI), Argentina

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm		Williams Institute Annual Gala Reception and Awards Ceremony honoring the Institute for the Study of Human Resources, presentation of the ILGLaw Ulrichs Awards, and Announcement of the Moot Court Winners, Location: Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library, UCLA School of Law


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Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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Saturday, March 14, 2009



Saturday, March 14, 2009

8:00 am - 4:00 pm		Registration Location: UCLA School of Law, Foyer

9:00 am - 10:20 am		Concurrent Sessions VII

		Latin American Track - Colombia Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1337

		Description: This eighty minute session will explore the rights of LGBT people in Colombia. Representatives from Colombia Diversa, an organization working to advance the rights of LGBT people in Colombia, will discuss the national legislative campaign it designed, coordinated, and executed which obtained legal recognition of some of the rights of married couples for same-sex couples in 2007. They will discuss the key role played by LGBT activism, the risks of relying on public interest litigation, and the recent opinion by the Colombia Supreme Court that extended all of the rights of married couples to same-sex couples. Another panelist will also discuss recent LGBT rights legislation in Bogota, Colombia, questioning the impact of the LGBT movement framing its demands in a discourse of rights and questioning what role local LGBT public policy initiatives play within a larger national discourse of citizenship.

		Moderator:
		Germán Rincón Perfetti, Director, ILGLaw (South America), Human Rights Lawyer, Colombia
		Panelists:
		Jose Fernando Serrano Amaya, Anthropologist, National University of Colombia, Columbia, presenting Colombia: Public Policy for the Guarantee of LGBT Rights Alejandra Azuero, Legal Committee Member, Colombia Diversa, Colombia & Mauricio Albarracín, Legal Committee Member, Colombia Diversa, Colombia, presenting Recognition of the Rights of Same-Sex Couples in Colombia Marcela Sánchez Buitrago, President, Colombia Diversa, Colombia

		Regional Track - LGBT Rights in Eastern Europe: Belarus, Hungary & Poland Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1447

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will address the recent history and current statuses of LGBT rights in three eastern European nations: Belarus, Hungary, and Poland. Panelists will discuss the mistreatment of the LGBT community by law enforcement in Belarus; Hungary’s Registered Partnership Act that benefits same-sex and different-sex couples—including a pending challenge contending that the Act violates the Hungarian Constitution’s duty to protect marriage and the family; and the impact of European Court of Human Rights and Polish national courts on society, politics, and LGBT organizations and persons in Poland.

		Moderator:
		Helmut Graupner, Co Coordinator, European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL), Director, ILGLaw (Europe), Austria
		Panelists:
		Adam Bodnar, Associate Professor, Warsaw University, Human Rights Chair; head of the Legal Division at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Poland, presenting Emancipation of LGBT Persons in Poland Through Litigation of Strategic Cases Eszter Polgári, Researcher and Lecturer, Legal Studies Department, Central European University, Hungary & Tamás Dombos, Junior Research Fellow, Center for Policy Studies, Central European University, Hungary, presenting The Hungarian Act on Registered Partnership in Comparative Perspective Svyatoslav Sementsov, Co-President, TEMA Information Center, Belarus, presenting Are All Equal Before the Law?

		Global Track - Comparative Approaches to Couples Rights Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will examine the treatment of same-sex couples in a variety of contexts, drawing lessons from comparisons of different national approaches. The panelists will consider “marriage penalties” and tax reforms in several countries; the differing approaches to relationship recognition of Spain, Italy, and Colombia and the factors influencing such varied treatment; the Catholic Church’s position on LGBT rights and the importance of protecting secularism or disestablishment of religion globally; and the implementation and challenges of marriage for same-sex couples in Spain and countries that share histories and political and relationships with Spain as a result of Spanish colonialism.

		Moderator:
		Darren Rosenblum, Associate Professor of Law, Pace Law School, United States
		Panelists:
		Kathleen Lahey, Professor and Queen’s National Scholar, Co Coordinator of Feminist Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University, Canada, presenting Taxing Same Sex Couples: The Role of Gender, Relationship Status, and Parenting Maria Federica Moscati, PhD Candidate, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, United Kingdom, presenting From Resistance to Acceptance: Same Sex Unions in Comparative Perspective Maria Gigiola Toniollo, New Rights Officer at CGIL Nazionale, Italy, presenting Law, the Catholic Church, and Secularism Carlos Villagrasa, Professor of Law, University of Barcelona, Spain, presenting Same Sex Marriage in Spain: Obstacles to the Exercise of a Right Secured in Spain and to Be Secured in Latin American and the Caribbean

		Issue Track - Combating Stigma, Preventing HIV, & MSM Populations Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2326

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will consider relationships between the treatment of LGBT persons and the ostensibly non-identity based category of men who have sex with men (“MSM”) in efforts to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS. The panelists will discuss problems of discrimination and stigma and how they marginalize MSMs living with HIV/AIDS in countries including Australia and Nigeria and discourage them from seeking medical care, as well as possible approaches to resolving these problems. The panelists will also explore challenges facing Trade Unions in protecting workers from discrimination, harassment and prejudice based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and living with HIV/AIDS; and ways that supportive legislative environments like that in Australia can facilitate the success of HIV/AIDS prevention programs among MSM populations.

		Moderator:
		Catherine Smith, Visiting Scholar, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Professor of Law, University of Denver School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Oliver Anene, Programs Manager, Alliance Rights Nigeria, Nigeria, presenting MSM and HIV in Nigeria David Scamell, Manager of Policy, Planning, and Research, AIDS Council of New South Wales, Australia, presenting Law Reform Saves Lives: The Role of Decriminalization in Australia's Effective Response to HIV Among Gay Men Salvatore Marra, New Rights Officer at CGIL Roma e Lazio, Italy, presenting AIDS/HIV and Workplace: New Challenges for Trade Unions

10:20 am - 10:40 am		Break

10:40 am- 12:00 pm		Concurrent Sessions VIII

		Latin American Track - Bolivia, Nicarauga, & Venezuela Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2326

		Description: This eighty minute session will explore the rights of LGBT people in Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Panelists will provide an overview of the legal rights of LGBT people in Bolivia – offering public policy proposals and strategies for advancing their rights; an analysis of the LGBT rights in Nicaragua—including the recent repeal of the nation’s sodomy law, its HIV prevention laws, and laws that prohibit employment discrimination; and a comparative analysis of the treatment of same-sex couples under Venezuelan and international law through an ethical-cultural political lens.

		Moderator:
		Tamara M. Adrián Hernández, Professor of Law, Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Caracas and Universidad Central de Venezuela, ILGLaw Director (South America), Venezuela
		Panelists:
		Pablo Céspedes Varga, Vice-president LGBT Equality Foundation and Head Researcher LGBT MERCOSUR Network, Bolivia, presenting Human Rights of LGBT People in Bolivia: Diagnostics & Antecedents Jose Ramon Merentes Correa, Coordinator of Unión Afirmativ, Venezuela, presenting Law, Ethics and Politics: The Centrifuge Forces on Definition of Our Rights: The Case of the Interpretation Appeal Based on Opinions by the United Nations Human Rights Committee on Sexual Orientation as a Protected Category within the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Argelis Montano, Legal Advisor (Center for the education and prevention of AIDS) & Outreach Coordinator (Center for Alternative Education), Nicaragua, presenting Discrepancies in Nicaragua's New Penal Code with Respect to the LGBT Population Luis H. Torres Cruz, Grupo de Diversidad Sexual de Carazo and Coordinador Administración y Proyectos Espacio Comunicación Alternativa-ECA, Nicaragua, presenting Discrepancies in Nicaragua's New Penal Code with Respect to the LGBT Population

		Regional Track - LGBT Rights in Asia Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 2448

		Description: This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will provide an overview and assessment of the current state of LGBT rights in Asia. The panelists will trace repressive laws limiting same-sex sexual expression in Singapore to their roots in British colonial regulation and the anomalous nature of Singaporean restrictions in light of subsequent liberalization in the United Kingdom of “morality” legislation; address the campaign in Taiwan for partnership rights for same-sex couples, which as in some U.S. states has shifted from judicial to legislative arenas following adverse court rulings, and which has seen an interesting coalition emerge with the Taiwanese women’s movement; and present other significant developments in LGBT rights in Asia.

		Moderator:
		Kim Pearson, Law Teaching Fellow, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Holning Lau, Associate Professor of Law, Hofstra Law School, United States, presenting Advances in LGBT Rights in Asia Manav Kapur, fourth-year student, National Academy of Legal Sciences and Research (NALSAR) University of Law, India, presenting Gay Rights in Singapore and the United Kingdom: A Comparative Approach Daniel Yen-Chun Chen, Graduate Student, College of Law, Taiwan University, Taiwan & Cheng-Tong Wang, Graduate Student, Master of Arts Program of Social Sciences, University of Chicago, United States, presenting The Same-Sex Partnership Movement in Taiwan: Frame-Bridging as Key Strategy

		Global Track - The Law of Small Change in the New World Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1447

		Description: Dr. Kees Waaldijk has coined the phrase “the law of small change” as a description of the conditions under which jurisdictions around the world have come to recognize LGBT rights; simply put, the idea is that a series of incremental advances in the treatment of homosexual behavior, LGBT persons and same-sex relationships paves the way for further legal recognition to appear as just a “small change.” This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will focus upon “the law of small change” as it may apply in countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as address a broader spectrum of LGBTI rights and factors that may help explain the divergent approaches that have manifested in otherwise similar states, societies, and regions.

		Moderator:
		Nan Hunter, Legal Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		M. V. Lee Badgett, Research Director, The Williams Institute, Professor of Economics and Director, Center for Public Policy & Administration, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States, presenting Waves of Change: Is Latin America Really Following Europe in Same-Sex Couples’ Rights? Kees Waaldijk, Senior Lecturer and Director of PhD Studies, Leiden Law School, Member, European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL),The Netherlands & Lucas Paoli Itaborahy, Graduate Degree Studies in International Human Rights, Brazil, presenting The Trend of Progress: Comparing the Legal Recognition of Homosexual Orientation in Caribbean and Latin American Countries with that in European Countries James D. Wilets, Professor of Law, Shepard Broad Law Center, Nova Southeastern University, Chair, Inter American Center for Human Rights, United States, presenting A Comparative Analysis for Explaining Different National and Regional Approaches to LGBT Rights

		Issue Track - Decriminalizing Queer Sexuality Location: UCLA School of Law, Room 1337

		Description: Despite decriminalization decisions from bodies such as the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Commission, over a third of all countries in the world still have “sodomy” laws that criminalize some or all sexual conduct between persons of the same sex. This one-hour-and-twenty-minute panel will deal with problems of homophobia and criminalization around the world. The three panelists will address issues from the local (problems of persecution grounded in a punitive interpretation of Islam in Malaysia, the relationship between the Yogyakarta Principles and Ugandan criminal law, national asylum laws) to the global (a systematic study of criminal “sodomy” laws in place in 86 member states of the United Nations).

		Moderator:
		Doug NeJaime, Sears Law Teaching Fellow, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Nellsen Jong, U.S. Asylee from Malaysia, presenting Political and Religious Factors in Malaysia's Sodomy Law Enforcement by Walter L. Williams, Professor of Anthropology, History, and Gender Studies, University of Southern California, United States Wamala Dennis Mawejje, Icebreakers Uganda, Kampala Uganda, East Africa, presenting Homophobia and the Law as It Is: Lessons from Uganda Daniel Ottosson, Södertörn University, Sweden, representing the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), presenting State Sponsored Homophobia

12:00 pm - 12:20 pm		Break

12:20 pm - 1:50 pm		ILGLaw Luncheon & Awards Ceremony Location: UCLA Faculty Center, California Room

		Plenary: California Marriage Location: UCLA Faculty Center, California Room

		Description: This ninety minute session will explore the debate over extending marriage to same-sex couples in California over the last two years. Panelists will discuss the historic California Supreme Court decision that extended marriage to same-sex couples in May 2008; the overturning of that decision in November 2008 by a ballot initiative, Proposition 8; the protests that followed; and the challenge to Proposition 8 currently pending before the California Supreme Court. The panel will be held one week after the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case to overturn Proposition 8 and the lead attorney arguing for the married same-sex couples, Shannon Minter, will participate in the panel. The panel will also discuss the role that race and ethnicity played in the campaigns in favor and against Proposition 8, the vote on November 4th, and the protests afterwards – as well as current efforts to strength coalitions between LGBT people and people of color communities in California

		Moderator:
		Cheryl I . Harris, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law, United States
		Panelists:
		Geoff Kors, Executive Director, Equality California, United States Shannon Price Minter, Legal Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights, United States Russell K. Robinson, Acting Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law, United States Saul Sarabia, Lecturer in Law & Administrative Director, UCLA School of Law - Critical Race Studies Program, United States Karin Wang, Vice-President of Programs, Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, Steering Committee, API Equality-LA, United States

1:50 pm - 2:00 pm		Break

2:00 pm - 2:45 pm		Working Group Report Out: Strategies for Advancing the Rights of Same-Sex Couples Location: UCLA Faculty Center, California Room

		Description: This forty-five minute session will provide a report on a working group on advancing the rights of same-sex couples held during the Global Arc of Justice conference. The goal of this session will be to share with the entire conference a summary of the discussion of the working group and to get feedback on suggestions for furthering this important work. The panel will review legal arguments that have worked around the globe as well as those that have not; use of international human rights law and foreign precedent in national cases, including the Yogyakarta principles, regional efforts such as those within the EU and Mercosur; how lawyers and scholars can work more effectively together to support these efforts; strategies for addressing opposition from religious organizations and dealing with religious liberty arguments, and building public education campaigns to support legislative and litigation strategies.

		Speakers:
		Evan Wolfson, Executive Director, Freedom to Marry, United States
		Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law, King's College London, Member, European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL), United Kingdom Kees Waaldijk, Senior Lecturer and Director of PhD Studies, Graduate School of the Faculty of Law of Universiteit Leiden, Member, European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL), The Netherlands

2:45 pm - 3:30 pm		Closing Remarks Location: UCLA Faculty Center, California Room

		Description: This forty-five minute session will offer perspectives on the themes developed during the conference and a discussion of the work that lies ahead for LGBT advocates around the world. An emphasis will be placed on future efforts for collaboration, making collaborations more effective, and strengthening ties between LGBT lawyers, scholars, and advocates from English speaking and Spanish speaking countries. Conference organizers David Cruz and Brad Sears will be joined by Paula Ettlebrick, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Professor Gloria Careaga-Perez of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

		Speakers:
		*Gloria Careaga-Perez,* Faculty of Psychology, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Co-coordinator, El Closet de Sor Juana, Mexico David B. Cruz, Professor of Law, USC School of Law & President, ILGLaw, United States Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), United States Brad Sears, Executive Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, United States

4:00 pm		Closing Celebration Location: Eleven, 8811 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood Sponsored by West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau

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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

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Saturday, March 14, 2009

For more information: Email williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu or call (310) 267-4382.