Special focus on Latin America at groundbreaking sexual orientation law conference in Los Angeles (March 11-14, 2009)

Let's see if this post comes through without major format issues: When I was approached last year by ILGLaw and The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law and asked for recommendations for panelists for this upcoming conference, I was thrilled.

As far as I know it is the first such gathering ever to take place in the United States and will bring together as comprehensive a roster of law practitioners and LGBT rights advocates from a region that has observed break-neck advances in the recognition of the rights of LGBT individuals.

It is a unique opportunity to hear first-hand about the strategy behind some of the amazing court victories that have been achieved in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia as well as a way to gain insight as to what legal advocates see coming in the next few years.

I will be there and I hope you'll join me. For more information in English, please click here. En Español, click here.

REGISTER NOW!

(Español/Spanish)
Haz clic aquí para el sitio web de la conferencia.

The Global Arc of Justice: Sexual Orientation Law Around the World

March 11-14, 2009
Los Angeles, CA

Convened by

the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law,

International Lesbian and Gay Law Association (ILGLaw), and

the City of West Hollywood

Important Reminders:

Early Registration Deadline: February 1, 2009

Hotel Conference Rate Deadline: January 12, 2009

The Global Arc of Justice Conference will be a four-day international conference on LGBT rights around the globe. Conference panels and events will include:

● an opening plenary panel on LGBT rights in Latin America

● a keynote talk from out justices on Argentina's and Australia's Supreme Courts

● a working group on strategies for advancing the rights of same-sex couples around the world

● a plenary panel highlighting the national programs and foreign policy initiatives to fight homophobia of Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands, and the UK

● a plenary panel on global perspectives on advancing the rights of transgender people

● a plenary panel addressing the legal obstacles to fighting HIV/AIDS across national borders

●a plenary panel on repealing sodomy laws in former British colonies

The conference's overarching goals are to strengthen global alliances and share strategies for advancing LGBT equality throughout the world. The conference will offer simultaneous translation in English and Spanish.

The Global Arc of Justice Conference will have a special focus on Latin America. Of the over 90 paper and presentation proposals received so far, over 40% have been submitted by presenters from Latin America and over 50% are from the Global South. Presentations will include developments and challenges in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, and Nicaragua.

We hope you can join the following confirmed speakers and participants for the Global Arc of Justice Conference:

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW!

Justice Eugenio Raul Zaffaroni, Argentina Supreme Court

Justice Michael Donald Kirby, High Court of Australia

Presiding Justice Carol W. Hunstein, Supreme Court of Georgia

Justice Virgina L. Linder, Supreme Court of Oregon

Dr. Jorge Saavedra Lopez, General Director, Mexican Ministry of Health's National Center for Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS

Judge Karen Atala, Chilean judge denied custody of her children by Chile's Supreme Court—case currently with the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Germán Rincón Perfetti, human rights lawyer in Colombia

Peter Ashman, Executive Director, INTERIGHTS

Boris Dittrich, Former Member of the Parliament, the Netherlands, Advocacy Director, LBGT Rights Program, Human Rights Watch

Tatiana Cordero, human rights lawyer in Ecuador, Executive Director of Corporation Promotion de la Mujer/Taller de Comunicacion de la Mujer

Sonia Corréa, coordinator of the Gender Initiative at the Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Analysis

Aeyal M. Gross, Professor of Law, Tel-Aviv University Faculty of Law & Vice President, ILGLaw

Tamara Adrián Hernandez, Professor of Law, University of Caracas

Marcelo Ernesto Ferreyra, Coordinator del Programa para America Latina y el Caribe de la Comision Internacional de los Derechos Humanos para Gays y Lesbianas, IGLHRC

Mauro Cabral, Professor, National University of Cordoba

Marcela Romero, Regional Coordinator, Latin American and Carribean Network of Transgender People

Hari Phyual, human rights lawyer in Nepal, International Commission of Jurists

Richard Green, Professor, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine

Ali Miller, Lecturer in Residence, Senior Fellow, Thelton E. Hender Center for Social Justice, Boalt Hall

Lee Badgett, Professor of Economics, U. Mass.-Amherst, Research Director, The Williams Institute

Andrés Duque, creator of blabbeando.blogspot.com

Douglas Elliott, Partner, Roy Elliott O'Connor LLP

Gary J. Gates, Senior Research Fellow, The Williams Institute

Nan Hunter, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law, Legal Director, The Williams Institute

Karon Monaghan, human rights lawyer in the United Kingdom

Andrew Park, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Wellspring Advisors

Clifford J. Rosky, Associate Professor, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law

Omar Banos, AIDS Project Los Angeles

David B. Cruz, Professor of Law, USC School of Law & President, ILGLaw

Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Stefano Fabeni, Director, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Initiative of Global Rights

Helmut Graupner, human rights lawyer in Austria

John Heilman, West Hollywood City Councilmember

John Duran, West Hollywood City Councilmember

Holning Lau, Associate Professor of Law, Hofstra Law

Darren Rosenblum, Associate Professor of Law, Pace Law School

Lara Stemple, Director of Graduate Studies, UCLA School of Law

Monica Taher, Azteca America

Brad Sears, Executive Director, The Williams Institute

Douglas Sanders, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Law, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada, LL.M. Professor, Chulalongkorn University

Saúl Sarabia, Lecture and Director of Critical Race Studies Program, UCLA School of Law

Kees Waaldijk, Faculty of Law, Leiden University

Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law, Kings College

Evan Wolfson, Executive Director, Freedom to Marry

Russell Robinson, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

Cheryl Harris, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

Maximo Lager, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

Hiroyuki Taniguchi, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Click here to visit the conference website!