Michael Greenberg Student Writing Competition

Established in memory of Michael Greenberg, a former National LGBT Bar Association board member and Philadelphia attorney who died in 1996 from complications of AIDS, this exciting competition is dedicated to encouraging and recognizing outstanding law student scholarship on the legal issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons.  Each year, the LGBT Bar receives dozens of submissions from law students on the cutting edge legal issues affecting the LGBT community. The winning article will be published in the Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality: A Review of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Law.

Applications for the 2013 Michael Greenberg Student Writing Competition have closed. The award will be presented at the 25th Anniversary Lavender Law® Conference & Career Fair, held August 22-24, 2013 in San Francisco, California.

 Previous Winners:

2012 | Lavender Law - Washington, DC

  • First Place:  Govind Persad, J.D./Ph.D Student, Stanford Law School
    “What Marriage Law can Learn from Citizenship Law (and Vice Versa)”
  • First Runner Up:  Jane Tanimura, USC School of Law
    “A Duty to Protect Female Transgender Inmates from the Obvious and Foreseeable Risk of Sexual Assault”
  • Second Runner Up:  Ryan Castle, Seattle University School of Law
    “The Gay Accent, Gender, and Title VII Employment Discrimination: Adapting to Modern Understandings of Bias in the Workplace”

2011 | Lavender Law - Hollywood

  • First Place:  Michael Stefanilo, Northeastern School of Law
    “Identity Interrupted: The Parental Notification Requirement of the Massachusetts Anti-Bullying Law”
  • First Runner Up:  Natalie Amato, University of Maryland School of Law
    “Black v. Simms: A Lost Opportunity to Benefit Children by Preserving Sibling Relationships When Same-Sex Families Dissolve”
  • Second Runner Up:  Shawn Carrol Casey, University of Arizona College of Law
    “Illicit Regulation: A Framework for Challenging the Procedural Validity of the Gay Blood Ban”

2010 | Lavender Law – Miami Beach

  • First Place:  Tina Sohaili, University of Southern California Gould School of Law
    “Securing Safe Schools: Using Title IX Liability to Address Peer Harassment of Transgender Students”
  • First Runner Up:  Maureen Brocco, University of Maryland School of Law
    “Note: Familiar Stories: An International Suggestion for LGB Family Military Benefits After the Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’”
  • Second Runner Up:  Alison Davidian, Harvard Law School
    “Beyond the Locker Room: Changing Narratives on Early Surgery for Intersex Children”

2009 | Lavender Law – Brooklyn

  • First Place: Krista Stone-Manista, Northwestern University School of Law
    “Parents in Illinois Are Parents in Oklahoma: An Argument for Mandatory Interstate Recognition of Same-Sex Adoptions”
  • First Runner Up:  C. Hays Burchfield, University of Mississippi School of Law
    “Gay or Straight – Marriage Should Not Be a Requirement for Enforceable Gestational Surrogacy Agreements”
  • Second Runner Up: Matthew Coleman, Rutgers School of Law Newark
    “Segregating the Cycle: Same-Sex Domestic Violence and the Threat of State Constitutional Amendments Limiting Marriage”

2008 | Lavender Law – San Francisco

  • First Place: Luke Boso, West Virginia University College of Law
    “A (Trans) Gender Inclusive Equal Protection Analysis of Public Female Toplessness”
  • First Runner Up:   Kathleen Doty, University of California Davis School of Law
    “From Fretté to E.B.: The European Court of Human Rights on Gay and Lesbian Adoption”
  • Second Runner Up: Victoria Snyder, City University of New York School of Law at Queens College
    “Romeo and Romeo: Coming Out from Under the Umbrella of Sexual Abuse”

2007 | Lavender Law 2007 – Chicago

  • First Place:  Adam R. Pulver, Columbia Law School – “Gay Blood Revisionism: A Critical Analysis of Advocacy and the ‘Gay Blood Ban’”
  • First Runner Up:  L. James Lyman, University of Colorado Law School – “Legislators Gone Wild! The (Mis)Use of Criminal Law to Prevent the Spread of HIV”
  • Second Runner Up: Daniel Ryan Koslosky – University of Florida College of Law – “Sexual Identity as Personhood: Towards an Expressive Liberty in the Military Context ”

2006 | Lavender Law 2006 – Washington DC

  • First Place: Anne C. DeCleene, University of Wisconsin Law School, The Reality of Gender Ambiguity:  A Road Toward Transgender Healthcare Inclusion.
  • First Runner Up:  Caitlin Barry, James E. Beasley School of Law, Temple University, Underage & Underprotected:  Recognizing the Rights of Gender Nonconforming Youth
  • Second Runner Up: Lauren Dubick, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, The 1st Amendment in Public Schools:  Restricting Religiously Based Anti-Homosexual Messages

2005 | Lavender Law 2005 – San Diego

  • First Place:  Deborah A. Morgan, American University Washington
    College of Law, Not Gay Enough for the Government: Racial Stereotypes in Sexual Orientation Asylum Cases
  • First Runner Up:   Shannan W. Leelyn, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Penal Implants: Transsexuals (Mis)Housed in the Criminal Justice System
  • Second Runner Up: Steve Sanders, University of Michigan Law School,Federalism and Same-Sex Marriage

2004 | Lavender Law 2004 – Minneapolis

  • First Place:  Anne Tamar-Mattis, University of California at Berkeley School of Law, Implications of AB 458 for California LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care
  • First Runner Up:    Natasha Ernst, Lewis & Clark Law School, Same-Sex Marriage and Equal Protection under Article I, Section 20 of the Oregon Constitution
  • Second Runner Up: Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona State University College of Law,A Bittersweet Victory in Smith v. Salem: How the Landmark Decision for Transgender Title VII Plaintiffs Doesn’t Pave the Way.

2003 | Lavender Law 2003 – New York

  • First Place:  Keith Hilzendeger, Arizona State University College of Law,Walking Title VII’s Tightrope: Advice for Gay and Lesbian Title VII Plaintiffs
  • First Runner Up:  Zachary A. Kramer, University of Illinois College of Law, The Neutered Homosexual: Why Gays and Lesbians Should Champion Martha Fineman’s Re-Visioned Family Law
  • Second Runner Up:  Sarah Drescher, University of Oregon College School of Law, ’Til Death Do Us Part . . . Or Until We Travel to Another State
  • Second Runner Up: Stacey Meadow, Fordham Law School, Gender Outlawed – Transsexuality and the Creation of a Legal Impossibility

2002 | Lavender Law 2002 – Philadelphia

  • First Place:  Mary Beth Heinzelmann, Hofstra University School of Law, The ‘Reasonable Lesbian’ Standard: A Potential Deterrent Against Bias in Hostile Work Environment Cases

2001 | Lavender Law 2001 – Dallas

2000 | Lavender Law 2000 – Washington DC

  • First Place:  B.J. Chisholm, Howard University School of Law, The Back(door) of Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: ‘Outing’ Heterosexuality as a Gender-Based Stereotype

1999 | Lavender Law 1999 – Seattle

1998 | Lavender Law 1998 – Boston