The Richard C. Failla LGBTQ Commission organized a hybrid, daylong conference entitled “How Deeply Rooted Are LGBTQ Rights?: Where We Stand Post-Dobbs” on November 10, 2022 at New York Law School in Manhattan.
Video of the Conference
For closed captioning, click the CC button at the bottom right of the video player.
Introductory remarks by Matthew J. Skinner, Esq., Executive Director, Failla Commission; Hon. Tamiko Amaker, Acting Chief Administrative Judge, New York State Unified Court System; Ronald Pawelczak, District Executive, Seventh Judicial District; and Hon. Joanne M. Winslow, Associate Justice, Appellate Division, Fourth Department and Co-Chair, Failla Commission.
First Panel: Assessing the Current Landscape for LGBTQ Rights
This panel explored how the U.S. Supreme Court’s reassessment of abortion rights might also affect all LGBTQ liberty and equality rights, as well as provide an overview of and an update on the responses to the most significant attacks against the LGBTQ community in the past year.
Moderator:
- Charlie Arrowood, Esq., Senior Counsel, Failla Commission<
Panelists:
- Ezra Cukor, Esq., Senior Staff Attorney, TLDEF
- Susan Sommer, Esq., Co-Founder, Experience Justice
- Taylor Brown, Esq., Staff Attorney, ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project
- Jason Starr, Esq., Litigation Strategist, Human Rights Campaign
- John Quinn, Esq., Partner, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP
- Callie Wells Oriente, Esq., Policy Counsel, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
- Michael Li, Esq., Senior Counsel, Democracy Program, Brennan Center for Justice
Second Panel: Life and Legacy of Urvashi Vaid
(starting at 2:11:53)
This panel offered perspectives on the trajectory and impact of the late LGBTQ community activist, strategist, and visionary leader Urvashi Vaid (1958-2022), as well as the lessons that her life’s work imparts to us at this moment, from some of the people who knew her best.
Moderator:
- Rosalyn Richter, Esq., Senior Counsel, Arnold & Porter and retired Associate Justice, Appellate Division, First Department
Panelists:
- Richard Burns, Chair, Founding Board of Directors, American LGBTQ+ Museum
- Cindy Rizzo, Social Justice Program, Arcus Foundation
- Katherine Grainger, Managing Partner, Civitas Public Affairs Group
Third Panel: Religious Liberty and the LGBTQ Community
(starting at 3:12:11)
This panel provided a historical background of the treatment of religious liberty and Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) claims by the U.S. Supreme Court and then outline the legal arguments made in the pending cases 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, Yeshiva University v. YU Pride Alliance, and Braidwood Management v. Becerra.
Moderator:
- Matthew Skinner, Esq., Executive Director, Failla Commission
Panelists:
- Arthur S. Leonard, Robert F. Wagner Professor of Labor and Employment Law, Emeritus, New York Law School
- Ria Tabacco Mar, Esq., Director, ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project
- Edward Stein, Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
- Amy Myrick, Esq., Senior Staff Attorney for Judicial Strategy, Center for Reproductive Rights
*The views expressed in the panels of this conference are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily represent or reflect the positions of the Richard C. Failla LGBTQ Commission, the Office of Court Administration, or the New York State Unified Court System.