{"id":148,"date":"2015-06-24T19:34:52","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T19:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.unews.utah.edu\/?p=148"},"modified":"2016-03-10T09:19:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10T16:19:10","slug":"fighting-for-equality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.unews.umc.utah.edu\/fighting-for-equality\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting for equality: U\u2019s Cliff Rosky honored for work on civil rights for LGBT community"},"content":{"rendered":"

(June 24, 2015) \u2014Cliff Rosky remembers a clear moment when he knew he wanted to dedicate much of his career to fighting for the rights of LGBT people.<\/p>\n

It was 1994 and Rosky was a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts. On a trip home to his native New Jersey one weekend, Rosky\u2019s brother had news for the family: He was gay. The announcement wasn\u2019t a big deal to the family, but in 1994, a stigma still existed around those who came out \u2014gay marriage wasn\u2019t legal anywhere in the U.S., same-sex relationships were criminalized and hate crimes were rampant. As Rosky\u2019s brother discussed his future as a gay man, he made a heartbreaking statement that would set Rosky on a path to work towards equality for years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember my brother saying something along the lines that he didn\u2019t think he could have a family and he didn\u2019t think he could be a parent,\u201d Rosky, today a professor at the S.J. Quinney College <\/span>of Law at the University of Utah, recalled. \u201cThat just struck me as wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosky graduated from Yale Law School in 2001 and set out to change the world for the better, taking jobs where he could work toward creating public policy that would enable his brother \u2014and others in the LGBT community \u2014to fulfill their dreams of having a family without the hostile climate from mainstream society in the early 1990s. Rosky moved to San Francisco, where he worked for a few years as a lawyer before ultimately landing a job where he could pursue his true passion full-time. He joined the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law.<\/p>\n

Among his accomplishments at the institute: He submitted an amicus brief in the successful same-sex marriage appeal to the California Supreme Court in 2008, which was cited in the court\u2019s historic decision to allow same-sex couples to marry in the state. The case was fought in an intense national spotlight, especially in Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invested in efforts to ban gay marriage, encouraging its members to lobby to help pass Proposition 8 in California\u2014the formal name of the ballot initiative that prohibited same-sex unions there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our brief, we tried to tell the California Supreme Court who same-sex couples actually are in California. There is a stereotype that same-sex couples are mostly white, affluent, men,\u201d said Rosky. \u201cBut that\u2019s just a myth, there is a lot of racial, ethnic, and economic diversity. Many couples are raising kids. \u00a0It seemed important to let the California Supreme Court know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides work on the high-profile court case, while in California he also developed teaching materials for a casebook on sexual orientation and law, and co-authored over 30 demographic reports on lesbian, gay and bisexual populations in the United States. After moving to Utah, he in 2011 authored an award-winning\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0on the Prop 8 case, \u201cPerry v. Schwarzenegger and the Future of Same-Sex Marriage Law,\u201d<\/span><\/a> in the\u00a0<\/i>\u201cArizona Law Review.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, he is one of the country\u2019s leading experts on the constitutionality of laws against same-sex marriage, one of several reasons he will be honored this week by the Human Rights Campaign at the organization\u2019s 2015 Utah Gala<\/span><\/a> as the recipient of the Equality Award.\u00a0 The Human Rights Campaign is the largest civil rights organization in the U.S. dedicated to working for equal rights for LGBT people, including policies that help people feel they can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community. Across the U.S., it has more than 1.5 million supporters.<\/p>\n

Rosky was selected for this year\u2019s \u201cEquality Award\u201d in Utah for a lifetime of work in improving civil rights.<\/p>\n

Also honored at this year\u2019s awards dinner, which will take place June 27 at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, is Brandie Balken, former executive director of Equality Utah and current program officer with Gill Foundation, an LGBT advocacy group.<\/p>\n

Rosky\u2019s hard work also makes him an asset to the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, said Robert Adler, dean of the college. Rosky teaches courses on <\/span>constitutional law, criminal law, and sexuality-gender law. He\u2019s been featured in publications such as The Economist,\u00a0Associated Press, L.A. Times, N.Y. Times,\u00a0Washington Post, ABC News, NBC News, CNN,\u00a0The Guardian, and Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cProfessor Rosky is one of those rare academics who combines brilliance in teaching and academic research with an ability to use his scholarly work to make the world a better place,\u201d said Robert Adler, dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law.\u00a0 \u201cWe live in a society that is moving toward greater justice and equality because of Cliff and others like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosky came to Utah in 2008 \u2014a move that surprised some who watched his career trajectory take him from the east coast to liberal San Francisco \u2014to the mountains of one of the most conservative regions in the country.\u00a0 \u201cWhy Utah?\u201d was a question Rosky even asked himself at the time \u2014until an interview when he met a group of law students and fell in love with Salt Lake City\u2019s diverse, divergent viewpoints.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something that Utah has that other places don\u2019t: Ideological diversity. People disagree on the issues I care about and I realized at that moment, \u2018This is why Utah.\u2019\u00a0 We\u2019re having conversations here that no one is having anywhere else. The opportunity to do work on LGBT rights in Salt Lake City is certainly unique,\u201d said Rosky.<\/p>\n

He noted he enjoys the collaborative environment he finds in fellow colleagues at the U.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very supportive environment,\u201d said Rosky. \u201cThere are many law schools that would have said \u2018stop doing so much public service.\u2019 But I was able to work on many public policy initiatives in addition to research and teaching. It has been a special opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cliff

PHOTO CREDIT: <\/span>S.J. Quinney College of Law<\/p>

Cliff Rosky, professor of law<\/p>