Williams Institute celebrates its 10th anniversary, carries on support for LGBT community
By Paul Stremple
Nov. 16, 2011 1:18 a.m.
The Williams Institute at UCLA celebrated its 10th anniversary of law and public policy research based around the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community this year.
The institute was created in 2001 as an academic research center to address a lack of research on LGBT legal and policy issues, and is the first of its kind in the nation, said Brad Sears, assistant dean and executive director of the institute.
“Many of the arguments (over the effects of laws addressing LGBT issues) are empirical and can be determined through research,” Sears said. “The Williams Institute provides this research.”
Most of the research performed is general demographic information, though members of the institute have provided legal briefs as well as policy analysis for various levels of government, Sears said.
The Williams Institute also provides judicial trainings to inform judges about legal issues concerning the LGBT community, said Jody L. Herman, a public policy fellow with the institute.
M.V. Lee Badgett, Williams Institute director of research, and Ilan Meyer, senior scholar of public policy, both contributed to California’s Proposition 8 trial.
Recent issues the Williams Institute has researched include the impact of bullying to help evaluate safe school programs and LGBT discrimination in the workplace.
With a varied state response over the issue of gay marriage, the Williams Institute has also researched the effects of gay marriage and civil unions. Herman recently studied the budget impact of allowing such unions in Delaware, Rhode Island and Colorado, finding a net positive fiscal impact in all but one of the states.
The Williams Institute is funded by the UCLA Foundation endowment, as well as private and government grants, Sears said.
In addition to research, the Williams Institute offers courses at the UCLA Law and Policy schools. Nancy Polikoff, the McDonald Wright visiting chair of law, is currently teaching courses in family law and on LGBT families with children at the UCLA School of Law.
Apart from teaching, Polikoff does her own research and writing on the subject of LGBT families, often providing feedback for and consulting with members of the Williams Institute.
The Williams Institute publishes a journal specific to LGBT legal issues, to which students contribute, as well as holds a moot court competition dedicated to sexual orientation and gender identity law, Sears said.
Over the last 10 years, the institute has grown to a staff of about 22 people, and Sears said he expects the institute to add three to four more posititions in the next couple of years.
Looking to the future, Herman said she sees research on issues concerning the transgender community as an important area of focus.
“The research that’s out there is up and coming,” she said, “but it’s not as established ““ it needs a lot more attention.
