REPORT: Williams Institute's National Update on Sexual Orientation

The Los Angeles Times reports about the Williams Institute's 6th Annual Update on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy in today's edition with an article coyly entitled "UCLA to establish unique law chair." The story is about a 1-million-dollar gift to the UCLA School of Law to establish the McDonald/Wright Professorship in Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy by a well-known gay philanthropic couple. John McDonald and Rob Wright had previously given $100,000 to the Williams Institute to support its judicial education and training program and years ago in 1996 had given $1.5 million to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center to refurbish its headquarters building, which was renamed the McDonald/Wright building.

MadProfessah attended the cocktail reception in the Darling Library of the UCLA Law School at which the announcement of the establishment of the nation's first endowed academic chair in sexual orientation law and public policy was made. Also in attendance were many of the nation's leading scholars in the field: Yale Law's William B. Eskridge, UCLA Law Professors Brad Sears, William B. Rubenstein and Russell Robinson, USC's David Cruz, Williams Institute benefactor Charles R. Williams, Lambda Legal's Jenny Pizer, Alphonso David and Jon Davidson as well as Freedom To Marry's Evan Wolfson.

Also announced at the reception were the winners of the 3rd Annual National Sexual Orientation Law Moot Court Competion, the final round of which was judged by two sitting Justices of the Washington State Supreme Court (Barbara Madsen and Susan Owens) and members of the "infamous" Ninth Circuit United States Court of Appeals (Raymond Fisher). MadProfessah had been a volunteer judge in the first two rounds and took the picture above of the final round on Friday February 23rd.