A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has upheld a district court's refusal of preliminary injunctive relief to a counseling student who was expelled from the Counselor Education Program at Augusta (Georgia) State University when she refused to participate in a remediation program on LGBTQ issues as a prerequisite to participating in the Program's clinical practicum involving actual one-on-one counseling with students. The Program faculty had concluded from statements … <Read More>
Metropolitan Opera “Faust” on December 17 – A Debut and an Accident
When the Met brochure came out last spring and I went through deciding what to attend, I hadn't paid attention to Gounod's "Faust." It was not on my priority list. But then I learned a few months ago that although Yannick Nezet-Seguin was the announced conductor for this new production, my friend Pierre Vallet would be filling in for him on Saturday night, December 17, thus making his Metropolitan Opera conducting debut. I quickly recruited … <Read More>
Grading Breaks – Mindless Movie and Great Music
"Grading season" began for me on Tuesday, my Contracts students having taken their final exam on Monday afternoon (Dec. 12) and my Employment Discrimination students on Friday afternoon (Dec. 16). So now I face two little mountains of exams to grade. I try to do some grading every day, take a culture break when I can squeeze it in, and get in some office time preparing for spring semester, working on Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, and … <Read More>
Continued Uncertainty About Scope of Lawrence v. Texas Helps Sink Habeas Petition in Incest Conviction
Reflecting the continuing disagreement among the federal courts about the precedential scope of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 decision Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of a petition for habeas corpus brought by an Ohio man who was convicted under a state incest law for engaging in sexual conduct with his adult step-daughter. The panel held, first, … <Read More>
A Weekend of Musical Contrasts: Tallis Scholars Christmas Program & ASO Busoni/Liszt Concert
Once again I had a weekend with sharply contrasting musical experiences. On Saturday night, I attended a program presented by the Miller Theatre at Columbia University Early Music Series, The Tallis Scholars in a program titled "Songs of May: A Christmas Celebration," at the appropriate venue of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the Times Square neighborhood of Manhattan. Then on Sunday afternoon, I attended the American Symphony Orchestra's program titled "Parallel Lives: … <Read More>
Maine SJC Affirms $500,000 Damages for Gay Discriminatee
Ruling unanimously in Russell v. ExpressJet Airlines, Inc., 2011 ME 123 (Dec. 6, 2011), the Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed an award of $500,000 damages to Edward Russell, who persuaded a jury that he had been the victim of employment discrimination based on his sexual orientation in violation of the state's Human Rights Act.
Edward Russell joined Continental Express in Portland as an agent in 1998, and was promoted to supervisor the following year. When … <Read More>
Whatever Became of Le Sacre du Printemps?
I was at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, tonight for the New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Daniel Harding, with Joshua Bell as soloist for Peter I. Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. The concert began with the very brief "Flourish with Fireworks" by Oliver Knussen, and concluded with Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), the early 20th century ballet that revolutionized music and for many marks the beginning of the "modern" era.
Le Sacre should … <Read More>
Carnegie Hall: Jurowski & the LPO with Violin Soloist Janine Jansen
I attended the London Philharmonic Orchestra's concert at Carnegie Hall last night. Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski led the orchestra in Matthias Pintscher's "towards Osiris" (2005), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, K. 219 (nicknamed the Turkish Concerto due to an episode in the Rondeau movement), and Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4, Op. 98. Janine Jansen was the soloist in the Mozart concerto.
I had a mixed reaction to this concert. On the one hand, … <Read More>
US Magistrate Denies Summary Judgment to Texas School District in Lesbian Student’s Confidentiality Lawsuit
U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Love denied a Texas school district's motion to dismiss a constitutional tort suit brought by the mother of a lesbian high school student on behalf of her daughter, who alleges that she was "outed" to her mother by the coaches of her high school softball team in violation of her constitutional right to privacy. Wyatt v. Kilgore Independent School District, 2011 Westlaw 6016467 (E.D. Texas, Nov. 30, 2011).
Judge … <Read More>
“Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays” at the Minetta Lane Theatre
Tonight I attended a performance of "Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays," at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village. This production, conceived by Brian Shnipper and directed by Stuart Ross, brings together six superb actors for readings of short plays by an all-star cast of writers: Mo Gaffney, Jordan Harrison, Moises Kaufman, Joe Keenan, Neil LaBute, Wendy MacLeod, Jose Rivera, Paul Rudnick and Doug Wright. All of the short plays relate in some … <Read More>