The Next Phase: Positioning the Post-Obergefell LGBT Rights Movement to Bridge the Gap between Formal and Lived Equality

Abstract:     

This Article explores the ways in which the current LGBT rights movement is poorly positioned to contend with its “next phase,” in which LGBT people will experience formal equality under the law, but will find themselves unable to easily gain access to their newly won equal rights.

The Article begins by noting that the current resource allocation of the LGBT rights movement skews heavily toward funding of impact litigation and legislative policy reform, and provides very meager funding for direct legal services organizations. The Article then explores why this is a problem. It does so by considering the fact that policy reform organizations are not best positioned to help people gain access to rights already won, nor can they easily resolve the problem of public disbelief in the continued existence of discrimination once formal equality has been achieved. The Article suggests that by diversifying its allocation of resources to better fund direct legal service organizations, the LGBT rights movement could strengthen its response to these difficulties and make greater strides toward ensuring that equality does not simply exist on the books, but in the lives of LGBT citizens nationwide.

While scholarship regarding the LGBT rights movement has studied impact litigation groups in some depth, there has been very little examination of the important work that direct legal service organizations plays in that movement, and even less examination of the interplay between impact litigators and direct service providers. This Article builds on the author's prior scholarship in this area, and continues to advance the discussion by demonstrating how increased commitment to developing collaborations between impact litigators and direct service projects strengthens the movement overall.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 54

Keywords: Law and social movements, Law and social change, Sexual orientation, Gender identity, Impact litigation, Litigation priorities, homosexuality, queer, transgender, direct legal services

JEL Classification: K19, K39