Thursday, April 7, 2011, at 3pm
Maurer School of Law, IU Bloomington
Free and open to the public
Indiana CLE available (pending approval)

Featuring a lecture:

One State's Challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act
by Maura Healey
Chief, Civil Rights Division, Massachusetts Attorney General's Office

Followed by a panel of legal and academic experts:

• Thomas M. Fisher
  Solicitor General, State of Indiana
• Dawn Johnson Walter W. Foskett Professor, IU Maurer School of Law and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, US Department of Justice
• Brian Powell
  Rudy Professor of Sociology, IU College of Arts & Sciences and co-author of Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans' Definitions of the Family
• Deborah Widiss
  Associate Professor, IU Maurer School of Law
• Moderated by Steve Sanders
  University of Michigan Law School

Massachusetts, the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, filed suit against the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 2009. A companion suit was filed by same-sex couples. Last year, a federal judge ruled that DOMA violates the Constitution's 10th Amendment and equal protection guarantee. On Feb 23, the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend DOMA. The symposium will address the meaning of these dramatic legal and political developments, the diverse views of the states on federalism and same-sex marriage, and Americans' changing perceptions of gay and lesbian families.

Sponsored by the Maurer School of Law and the LGBT Alumni Advisory Board, the College of Arts & Sciences, the IU Office of Affirmative Action, the IU GLBT Alumni Association, the Center on Law, Society & Culture, and OUTlaw.

For more information, contact Steve Sanders at stevesan@umich.edu.

Revised: March 12, 2011

Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs
Bryan Hall 115, Bloomington, IN 47405-7000, USA
(812) 856-5700

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