OUTLaws & Allies is a support system and safe social circle for LGBT students, staff, faculty and their allies within the University of Kansas School of Law who share a vision for equality regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, while providing a forum for the exploration of, and education in, advancing LGBT rights.
OUTLaws & Allies hosts events that impact the entire Kansas community. In late September, OUTLaws & Allies, the Federalist Society and KC Legal co-hosted a gay marriage debate. The event featured Dale Carpenter, a professor of civil rights and civil liberties law at the University of Minnesota, and Dale Schowengerdt, a litigator for the Alliance Defense Fund. Carpenter is a frequent writer and speaker in the area of sexual orientation law. Schowengerdt has litigated against same-sex marriage and in defense of a number of traditional marriage-law acts, including the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The event offered a rigorous discussion of diverging perspectives on the topic of gay marriage to a standing-room-only audience.
The evening before the event, KC Legal sponsored a networking reception with Dale Carpenter in Kansas City.
OUTLaws & Allies’ next event will be a TGIT event, co-sponsored with the Public Interest Law Society. For more information about the TGIT or about OutLaws and Allies, please contact Matthew Riley at matthewriley@ku.edu.
Andrea Kalish, vice president, OutLaws & Allies