Cary Franklin has joined UCLA School of Law as the McDonald/Wright Chair of Law and Faculty Director of the Williams Institute. She will be teaching two courses this fall, Reproductive Rights and Justice and Law, Gender, and Sexuality.
When a same-sex marriage ban was overturned in California, a federal court cited research from UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute 30 times. President Barack Obama used Williams's research in an executive order prohibiting workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. And after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, Justice Anthony Kennedy described the institute's research as the deciding factor.
Within days of his appointment to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1979, a landmark event that made him the first openly gay judge in the world, UCLA School of Law alumnus Stephen Lachs ’63 could tell that things would never be the same.
The Williams Institute
Recognized nationally for its impact on policymakers and courts, the Williams Institute is a leader in rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and policy.
The Williams Institute was founded in 2001 by businessman and philanthropist Charles Williams and scholars at UCLA School of Law, with the aim of replacing the pervasive bias against LGBT people in law, policy, and culture with objective, empirical research on LGBT issues. Visit the Williams Institute website.
Jocelyn Samuels, the executive director of UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, was confirmed on Sept. 23 to a seat on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that enforces federal laws barring workplace discrimination.