Pacific McGeorge Hosts Discussion on Sexual Discrimination in the Military
September 01, 2005FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 1, 2005 – Sacramento, CAContact:
Janet Konttinen
University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
Director, Strategic Communications and Marketing
3200 Fifth Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95817
916-739-7047
As part of the on-going efforts by the faculty, staff, and students at Pacific McGeorge to ameliorate the impact of the military's discriminative hiring practices, and the effects on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, the law school is sponsoring an event where this issue will be examined. The program, entitled ‘The Military Recruitment Controvery: Why Must Law Schools Accept Discrimination?’, is open to the public, free of charge, and scheduled for Tuesday, September 20, 2005 from 5:00-6:00pm in Classroom G at Pacific McGeorge.
Pacific McGeorge’s Office of Career Development and the McGeorge Lambda Law Students Association, are co-sponsoring this program on the Solomon Amendment which will be moderated by Lambda president, Patrick Holstine. Speakers will include Professor Julise Johanson, who will recount her own experiences in the early 80's, and Peter Gratzinger, an attorney with the law firm of Heller Ehrman LLP, who is working on the current U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the amendment.
“We are trying to acquaint students and others in the audience with the human side of the story -- what it's like to be homosexual and want to serve in the military, or to be a homosexual in the military,” stated Holstine. “We also want to share information about current legal developments.”
FAIR v. Rumsfeld , a court case on the Supreme Court docket for this upcoming session, stems from the controversial Solomon Amendment. FAIR challenges the government's right to deny federal funds to educational institutions that bar the military from recruiting on the basis that the military violates the institutions' nondiscrimination policies. FAIR asserts that the Solomon Amendment violates the First Amendment by conditioning billions of dollars of government funding, noting that in many cases, this funding is pivotal to the success of important scientific or other research. FAIR also asserts that First Amendment rights found in academic institutions are violated when these institutions are forced to surrender their ability to make choices about the messages they deem as representative of their school.
