First Place: Brett Ries, Duke University School of Law “Don’t Be A Drag: How Drag Bans Can Violate the First Amendment” Runner-Up: Heidi Sandomir, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law “Towards Equality and Inclusion: Examining Legal Reforms and Social Change for Sexual and Gender Minorities in India”

First Place: Kailey Peel, Florida State University College of Law “Discriminatory Anti-Transgender Legislation Disguised as ‘Fairness in Women’s Sports’: An Analysis Under the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX” Runner-Up: Chelsey Borchardt, University of Nebraska College of Law “Gibson Prison Blues: Categorical Bans on Gender Confirmation Surgery for Inmates as Per Se Unconstitutional”

First Place: Aneri Shah, Seton Hall University “Under the Supreme Court’s Eye: Religious Exemptions are Undermining Civil Rights” Runner-Up: Stephanie Yim, University of California, Hastings “LGBTQ Asylum Seekers of Color: Unique Challenges Unrecognized by Evidentiary Standards that Give Too Much Discretion”

First Place: Cassidy Duckett, Temple University “Downtowns and Diverted Dollars: How the Metronormativity Narrative Damages Rural Queer Political Organizing” Runner-Up: Ellen Bertels, University of Kansas “Protecting the Trans Franchise: Voter IDs, ID Amendments, and the Disenfranchisement of Transgender Votes”

First Place: Matt Kellner, Yale Law School “Queer and Unusual: Capital Punishment, LGBTQ Identity, and the Constitutional Path Forward” Runners-Up: Ariana Aboulafia, University of Miami School of Law “The New John Lawrence: An Analysis of the Criminalization of LGBTQ Homelessness” and Chuqiao “Chris” Zhao, University of Notre Dame Law School “Happily (N)ever After?: Addressing Legal […]

First Place: Emily Lamm, Vanderbilt Law School “Bye, Bye, Binary: Updating Birth Certificates to Transcend the Binary of Sex” First Runner-Up: Candelario Saldana, University of Miami School of Law “Queering the Dream – The Impact Trump’s Decision has on LGBTQ+ Dreamers and the Inability to Attain Asylum”

First Place: Sarah Capasso-Kosan, Brooklyn Law School “A Proposal for the First National Equality Tax Credit Act” First Runner-Up: David Mendoza, Whittier Law School “Transitioning from Polarization to Understanding: An Objective Analysis of Gloucester County School Board v. G.G.”

First Place: Elizabeth B. Booker, University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law “The ADA’s Exclusion of Gender Dysphoria: An Analysis of the Rift between Jurisprudence and Mental Health” First Runner-Up: Meredith Fierro, Boston College Law School “Invalidating Identity: Religious Freedom, Gender Identity, and HHS’ Rule on Nondiscrimination in Health Services”

First Place:  Viktoriya Kruglyak, St. John’s University School of Law “The Need for Guidance for the USCIS: The Aftermath of DOMA and its Effect on Immigration” Runner Up: Alexi Machek Velez, Rutgers School of Law “On Why Courts Cannot Grasp ‘Gender’: Conflation, Assumption, and the Faulty Binary Paradigm that Underscores it All”

First Place:  Jillian Lenson, Boston College Law School “Litigation Primer Attacking State ‘No Promo Homo’ Laws: Why ‘Don’t Say Gay’ is not O.K.” First Runner Up: Ginger Grimes, University of California, Irvine School of Law “Masking the Reemergence of Immutability with ‘Outcomes for Children’” Second Runner Up:  Andrew Stankevich, Mississippi College School of Law “Uncle Sam’s Choice […]