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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN N
news
NEWS MANAGEMENT
Editor-in-chief Katie Kutsko
Managing editor - production Allison Kohn
Managing editor - digital media Lauren Armendariz
Associate digital media editor Will Webber
Sales manager Kolby Botts
ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT
Advertising director Sean Powers
Digital media and sales manager Mollie Pointer
Associate news editor Duncan McHenry
TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014
News editor
Emma LeGault
NEWS SECTION EDITORS
Sports editor Blake Schuster
Associate sports editor Ben Felderstein
Entertainment editor Christine Stanwood
Head copy chief Tara Bryant
copy chiefs
Cassey Hutchins
Hayley Jojowiak
Paige Lytle
Special sections editor Dani Brady
Design chiefs Cole Anneberg Trey Conrad
Designers Ali Self Clayton Rohman Hayden Parks
Opinion editor
Anna Wenner
Photo editor
George Mullinix
Associate photo editor Michael Strickland
ADVISERS
Sales and marketing adviser Jon Schittt
Media director and content strategist Brett Akagi
CONTACT US
editor@kansan.com
www.kansan.com
Newsroom: (785) 765-1491
Advertising: (785) 864-4358
Twitter: @KansanNews
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The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 50 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at the Kansan business office, 2051A Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS., 66045.
The University Daily Kansan (ISSN 0746-4967) is published daily during the school year except Friday, Saturday, Sunday, fall break, spring break and exams and weekly during the summer session excluding holidays. Annual subscription by mail are $250 plus tax. Send address changes to The University Daily Kansan, 2051A Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue
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Calendar
Tuesday, March 11
What: Proximity to Risk: Citizen receptions and responses to nearby environmental hazards
When: 4 to 5 p.m.
Where: Blake Hall, 114
About: A presentation by Justin Tucker, KU alumnus and assistant professor of political science at University of California, Fullerton.
What: Philosophy Lecture: Markets, Privatization and Corruption
When: 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: Kansas Union, Malott Room
About: Debra Satz, senior associate dean for the Humanities and Arts, Stanford University, will present a public lecture.
Wednesday, March 12
What: University of Kansas Spring 2014 Grad Fair
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Kansas Union Ballroom, level 5
About: Everything you need for spring 2014 graduation, including cap and gown fittings, will be available in the Kansas Union. Also takes place at the same time and location on Thursday, March 13.
Thursday, March 13
What: Veggie Lunch
When: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Ecumenical Campus Ministries
About: A free vegetarian meal on Thursdays at the ECM.
CAMPUS
What: Employment Topic Workshops for International Students: Interviewing Tips for International Students When: 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Where: Burge Union, Room 149 About: University Career Center staff will go over how to prepare for a successful American-style job interview.
What: Human Migration Series: You say border militarization like that's a bad thing: Tracing a concept's migration 1985-2012 When: Noon to 1 p.m. Where: Spooner Hall, The Commons About: A lecture exploring human migration from social, economic, demographic and biological perspectives.
Friday, March 14
Lawyer teaches new LGBTQ course
HAYLEY FRANCIS news@kansan.com
Lawrence attorney David Brown is teaching a new lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer seminar in the KU School of Law this semester. Brown has represented gay and lesbian clients including two LGBTQ couples that recently sued the state of Kansas for the ability to file joint income tax returns. In a recent interview, Brown discussed his course and the impact of the latest court decisions. The following are excerpts from the interview.
Kansan: Why did you decide to teach this new course at the law school?
Brown: It's just a law school class. I don't want to get carried away about it, but what I do think is important is that it has clearly fostered some discussion about LGBT rights. And I think that's a good thing. I do know for a fact that some other professors on campus are talking about the fact that this class exists. There are other similar classes on campus in different schools and kind of on different agendas but I think the discussion of these topics, particularly given the headlines of the news, is really important. And I think having students at the law school addressing those issues and being part of that
conversation is a good thing for the campus.
Brown: It's an exciting area of law and things are changing all the time, and while the law school addressed some of these issues in various classes, there was no consolidated approach. And, furthermore, I think it's the kind of thing where the law is changing every day and it's good for students to kind of address (LGTBQ issues) and learn how to deal with things that are changing on a somewhat frequent basis.
I think it's the most excited civil rights area of law that we've got going. I mean we've gone through several other civil rights battles over time, but this is currently the hot topic. And as lawyers they need to be aware of the issues that are involved and ways to protect their clients' rights.
Kansan: How do you think the course will impact students and the campus as a whole?
Lawrence attorney David Brown will teach a course covering LGBTQ legal issues at the KU School of Law this year.
Kansan: Why did you get involved with LGBTQ law?
Brown: I had lots of gay and lesbian friends even before I became a lawyer. And when I opened my practice there weren't lawyers who were helping people in that community. And lawyers that they did go to didn't understand the issues and gave some bad advice. So realistically before I opened my office, I was helping couples.
Talking to students, a lot of people have heard about LGBTQ rights and marriage laws in the news but are still unsure of exactly what is going on. Can you explain to them the current status nationally?
Brown: When we talk about folks who live in Kansas, for Social Security benefits under the current status of things, they don't necessarily qualify. Because even if they were married legally in Iowa, and now they live in Kansas, the federal government has to abide by that (Kansas) statute.
On the state level in some contexts it gets simpler because you can simply
Kansan: Where does Kansas stand?
Brown: Whenever the (United States v. Windsor) decision came down, what the court decided in that case was that on the federal level, the federal government has to recognize same-sex unions, assuming folks were married legally. And that includes marriages out-of-state, out-of-country, wherever you got married if it was legal wherever you were married, then the federal government has to recognize it for federal government purposes. And that seems like a simple solution, except even on the federal level it's complicated because of things like Social Security. By federal law, it would seem as though everyone ought to qualify for Social Security benefits. The statutes enacting Social Security, however, say that in terms of determining people's relationships - i.e. are they married, are there really children, those kinds of things - all depend on the states of residents of the parties.
say "Well Kansas doesn't recognize same-sex marriage." That's the simple statement. It has all sorts of weird ramifications for folks who are legally married from other states however.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Kansan: You recently successfully represented two KU alumni who married in Iowa and wanted a divorce here. What does that decision mean for other Kansas residents who identify as LGBTQ?
Brown: The difficulty is that technically Kansas doesn't recognize the marriage, so technically it can't grant a divorce.
It's complicated because there are at least three, and probably more, different approaches the district court judges take when a divorce decision from a same-sex couple is filed.
The first option is to say that the marriage is not valid in Kansas, therefore there's no jurisdiction for the court to hear the case, because in order to grant a divorce the court has to decide that it's a valid marriage.
If you do live in Kansas and
The second approach the court does essentially the same kind of thing. It reviews the petition and says, "Well, the marriage is not valid in Kansas." But the annulment statutes in Kansas allow a court to treat an invalid marriage for division purposes. And the court can then declare the marriage as invalid and divide all the marital assets and award custody of children and do everything a court can do in a divorce.
The one I've been successful with is to file a petition for divorce. The court reviews the petition, decides the divorce is valid for purposes of granting a divorce, grants the divorce, terminates the marriage, and does the necessary steps that are required in terms of issuing property and custody and whatever else is issued.
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your marriage should go bad and want to get divorced, there's no remedy for it. You can't do anything.
But there are other problems too. Let's take that same couple. They go to Iowa, they get married, they come back. When they fill out the job
application it says single or married. What do they check? When they get their driver's license can they get their new name on the driver's license? All of these things pose major
SEE LGBTQ PAGE 3
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