A candid conversation on the impact of the LGBT civil rights movement, the law and the legal tools of our trade. This plenary will ask how our practice of law can help the LGBT legal movement stem the legal ascendancy of the Right. What is the difference between pursuing equality and pursuing liberty? What is the movement’s balance between the two? How do we learn from older civil rights movements? How can we overcome the obstacles — e.g., the sense of stalling; an aging leadership cadre; the numbing impact of success; and the demoralizing impact of setbacks. What are the limit of relying on remedies from the Court? This final plenary will be both provocative and inspirational for all attendees.

Speakers: Urvashi Vaid, Nan Hunter, Kenji Yoshino, Kevin Cathcart

This panel will address the argument, heard lately with increasing frequency, that progressive goals have been undermined by over-reliance on the courts, and that the Goodridge decision on marriage equality in Massachusetts was counter-productive because it short-circuited the political process, polarized debate, and fueled the right. While focusing on Goodridge, the panel will look at how this view is mirrored by similar criticism of Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of Education. Are the factual premises of this backlash thesis correct? Are progressive setbacks attributable to excessive reliance on the courts? Where would we be without the landmark rights-based decisions of the last several decades? Should we approach the courts differently at this time in history? Is there a particular sensitivity to using the courts for advancing same-sex relationship recognition?

Moderator: Praveen Fernandes
Speakers: Carlos Ball, Jennifer Brown, William Eskridge, Matthew McTighe

Key leaders of major LGBT advocacy organizations share how they, and their advocacy groups, are working to achieve equality and to identify critical legal issues facing the community in the years ahead. This plenary will look at the future, from 2008 to 2012, to comport with LGBT Bar’s new strategic plan.

Moderator: Julie Greenberg
Speakers: Matthew Coles , Kenneth Upton , Kate Kendell, Victoria Neilsen , Kathi Westcott , Shannon Minter

Discussion of the Goodridge and Hernandez decisions vis-a-vis the largest decisions and/or pending cases from New Jersey and Washington State.

Speakers: William Eskridge, Blenda Cossman, Pat Cain, Matt Coles

The National LGBT Bar Association’s Annual Career Fair and Conference celebrates its 20th Anniversary by featuring the wealth of people who were instrumental in starting the LGBT legal movement. This plenary consists of the foremothers and forefathers of the movement, who will provide an inspirational and historical perspective on the LGBT movement in general, and also on 20 years of Annual Career Fair and Conference history.

Moderator: Bill Eskridge
Speakers: Phyllis Frye , Abby Rubenfeld , Bridget Wilson