Panelists address GLBT legal issues at law conference

TEXAS: The UT School of Law's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student association, OUTLaw, will host a conference today on national, state and personal legal questions affecting this demographic and their families in Texas.

"There's more interest now because it has been the cutting edge of civil rights work. We've gone from race to sex to sexuality," Upton said. "There really is a diverse crowd of people who have an interest, and it doesn't have anything to do with their sexuality. It has to do with their commitment to social justice."

UT may soon grapple with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender legal questions in the wake of Arabic lecturer Uri Horesh's January hunger strike. Horesh stopped eating for six days to protest UT's lack of domestic partner benefits for faculty and staff.

Though the issue has received less public attention in recent weeks, the Pride and Equity Faculty Staff Association has been working to finish a 45-page report arguing for the adoption of domestic partner benefits for UT system faculty and staff. The group will present its findings to UT President William Powers on April 21.

Karen Landolt, an association member and career development manager at the Red McCombs School of Business, said report writers have focused on arguing that UT will lose top faculty to institutions with domestic partner benefits.

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