Harvard Lambda conference to focus on trans issues

Harvard Law School Lambda, the law school's LGBT student organization, will host its third annual Harvard Lambda Legal Advocacy (HaLLA) conference Feb. 29-March 1. This year's conference will focus on transgender legal issues.

Lee Strock, one of the conference organizers, said that while the conference should appeal to anyone interested in LGBT advocacy, it will be of particular interest to attorneys and law students.

"This is absolutely cutting edge in the legal world, and it's also something that doesn't get enough attention in LGBT advocacy," said Strock.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, will kick off the conference with a welcome lunch Feb. 29. The conference will also feature panels on everything from trans youth and family issues to healthcare to sex segregation and gender regulation in the law. State Rep. Carl Sciortino, one of the lead sponsors of pending legislation to add trans-inclusive language to the state's non-discrimination and hate crimes laws, will moderate a panel on employment issues.

Strock said one panel will look at the connections between violence committed against transgender people by private individuals and violence committed against them by the state.

"The idea is to talk about the ways that private violence, hate crimes or domestic violence or other violence that impacts trans people, mirrors or is compounded by state violence, police violence or violence in prison. ... It definitely takes a different tack at looking at the way trans people's lives are threatened," said Strock.

The conference is free and open to the public, but Strock urged people to register online at www.hlslambda.com/halla. The conference will conclude with a banquet March 1, and meal tickets for the banquet will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to those who register.