We seek to recruit a wide diversity of students in our entering classes including students from the LGBTQ2IA+ community. We participate in Lavender Law events and help lead the country by staff participation in LGBTQ2IA+ workshops and conferences. Law school staff manage enrollment thoughtfully so transgender, non-binary and all other LGBTQ2IA+ students feel seen and welcomed to our school, and adapting processes, forms, and structures to better meet these ends. Additionally, members of the law school’s Admissions staff are actively involved in external bodies aimed at supporting LGBTQ2IA+ students, staff, and faculty on a broader scale, including CUNY’s LGBTQI+ Council and chairing LSAC’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Subcommittee.
Applicants are provided the opportunity to self-identify as LGBTQ2IA+ on our application for admission to the law school. Additionally, we’ve enhanced the gender ID question on our admissions application the past two cycles by expanding the number of options to include multiple non-binary categories along with cis female and male. Our application also includes a question giving applicants the opportunity to tell us their pronouns.
With respect to specific recruitment and outreach to LGBT2QIA+ community, CUNY School of Law posts faculty openings to the LGBTQ+ Bar listservs, as well as our reputation and work as a public interest and social justice-focused school of law, as reaffirmed in our diversity statement. The Law School is a public institution, committed to fostering respect for the rich diversity of our community, our city, our state, our nation, and, indeed, the world. To that end, the Law School has adopted the following: THE FACULTY AND STAFF OF CUNY SCHOOL OF LAW BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO HELP CREATE A BAR THAT IS MORE DIVERSIFIED, AND MORE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FULL RANGE OF PEOPLE THAT MAKE UP NEW YORK CITY AND THE UNITED STATES. ACCORDINGLY, WE ACTIVELY SEEK TO RECRUIT, EMPLOY, RETAIN, PROMOTE, AND TRAIN STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND STAFF OF ALL RACES, NATIONAL ORIGINS, CLASSES, AND BELIEF SYSTEMS, WITHOUT REGARD TO SEX OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, GENDER EXPRESSION OR TO AGE OR MARITAL OR PARENTAL STATUS. THIS COMMITMENT IS REFLECTED IN ALL THAT WE DO, BEGINNING WITH OUR ADMISSIONS POLICIES: WE LOOK AT THE WHOLE APPLICANT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE BROAD AND INCLUSIVE CRITERIA APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK.
CUNY offers a range of health plans to all employees. The option of several HMOs, PPOs, and POSs is provided through the City of New York. Information about plans and rates are available online at http://www.nyc.gov/html/olr/html/home/home.shtml. Benefits including health insurance, family medical leave, parental leave, and nontraditional family planning such as in vitro fertilization and/or adoptive benefits are available to all employees on equal terms. Same-sex couples who are married or in registered domestic partnerships are provided the same benefits that are provided to different-sex married or registered domestic partner couples.
All health benefits are provided through the City University of New York, and employees have several HMOs, PPOs, and POSs to choose from. Counseling, hormone therapy, and transgender reassignment surgery are covered by our health insurance plans if prescribed by a physician.
We have two social workers on staff, and both have received training relating to LGBTQ2IA+ specific care at conferences, workshops and through extensive professional experience. Additionally, our Professional Registered Nurse Practitioner received training during her education, experience, and continued development by way of a variety of training programs and professional conferences.
Single stall restrooms, also accessible for people with disabilities, are identified as “ALL GENDER RESTROOM” and are located throughout the building on each and every one of the law school’s five floors; we have only one law school building.
Additionally, the law school’s entire third floor contains only gender inclusive restrooms. Specifically, in addition to single stall, accessible all gender restrooms with signage reading “ALL GENDER RESTROOM,” also referenced above, third as well as other floor restroom signage says:
“W Gender diversity is welcomed here: please use the restroom that best fits your gender identify or expression.”
“M Gender diversity is welcomed here: please use the restroom that best fits your gender identify or expression.”
“Restroom: This is a gender-neutral restroom”
Each of our gender-segregated restrooms display signs that affirm
our commitment to inclusivity, with the following message:
“W Gender diversity is welcomed here: please use the restroom that best fits your gender identify or expression.”
“M Gender diversity is welcomed here: please use the restroom that best fits your gender identify or expression.”
Sexuality & the Law
Through fundraising and annual grants provided by the New York City Council, CUNY Law awards fellowships and grants for students to complete full-time summer legal internships, public interest projects, and impact-focused fellowships. At least six of these opportunities in each of the past two years have been specifically LGBTQ+-focused.
We give the option for students to include pronouns on our admissions applications. While a systematic process of sharing this information with faculty on class rosters has not been implemented yet, our students and faculty routinely share pronouns when classes meet and introduce for the first time. Additionally, all faculty, staff, and students are encouraged by the administration via annual educational presentations and messaging to include pronouns on email signatures, Zoom displays, and other venues where names and profiles are shared or exchanged.
CUNY School of Law is a social justice and public interest-focused institution. We strive for inclusivity and diversity, as CUNY Law School is recognized nationally as a gender inclusive law school. At least 32% of our fall 2021 incoming 1L class as well as 28% of our current student body overall identify as members of the LGBTQ2IA+ community. The Law School regularly hosts the OutSummit, which is an annual conference on the human rights of LGBTQ2IA+ community. Our capstone clinical programs (ranked #1 in the country by US News) include examination of the impact of legal representations and systems on the LGBTQ2IA+ community. One of our twelve clinical offerings, the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic, centers professional school experiential learning practice in the rights of people to determine their gender expression and gender identity. Other clinical offerings where work regularly involve gender and LGBTQ2IA+ organizations and issues are Equality and Justice Clinic and Immigration & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic. Student organizations of all kinds at CUNY Law are inclusive and embrace our large diversity mission including our LBGTQ2IA+ student organization, OUTLAWS, which continues to be active on campus.It
https://law.catalog.cuny.edu/statement-of-non-discrimination