The Law School seeks to admit a diverse student body. For example, the Law School has started a Summer Scholars Program that brings in undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds (including students who identify as LGBTQ+) to campus.
Although we do not list specific student groups in our Welcome Packet, the Admissions Office will reach out to the admitted students sending them a message that the Law School has numerous diversity and outreach based student organizations and that the Admissions Office can put the admitted students in touch with leadership of the organizations.
While the Law School does not provide an annual scholarship specifically for LGBTQ+ students, Law School students are eligible to apply for the Elliot Jackson Jones Memorial Scholarship, which is awarded to a student who continuously finds ways to positively support the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer student population at the University of Alabama.
Positions are advertised in diversity-focused job sites and listservs including, but not limited to applicable AALS sections and diversity-focused bar association job boards.
A summary of the University health insurance policy for employees can be found at the following locations: https://hr.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/Benefits/Benefits-Summary-Guide.pdf, https://hr.ua.edu/benefits/health-care-benefits/medical-plans
A summary of the University health insurance policy for employees can be found at the following locations: https://hr.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/Benefits/Benefits-Summary-Guide.pdf, https://hr.ua.edu/benefits/health-care-benefits/medical-plans
In addition to providing counseling services through the University (described in detail below), the Law School provides the services of a licensed professional counselor who is available to meet with law students twice a week during the academic year.
Counseling for LGBTQA+ students at The University of Alabama is available through both the UA Counseling Center and The Women and Gender Resource Center, as well as through The Safe Zone Resource Center.
The Counseling Center helps students, undergraduate and graduate, achieve academic success and personal growth through quality counseling and psychological services, outreach, and consultative services, and the training of mental health professionals.
Students know the Counseling Center for its outstanding counseling services and counseling resources, as well as innovative programs including Stress Free Daze, which provides an opportunity for students to reduce their stress before finals week each semester.
The Counseling Center also offers information on how faculty, staff, parents, and others can support their students, specific information on helping students in crisis, along with further information on self help.
UA offers two full-time psychiatrists, one psychiatric nurse practitioner and seven other physicians who can assist in screening for general mental health issues through the Student Health Center. The UA Counseling Center staff includes 18 licensed clinicians (psychologists, licensed professional counselors, and licensed social workers). The Women and Gender Resource Center employs five staff therapists and two victim advocates.
The Women and Gender Resource Center addresses gender inequity and fosters a community of multiculturalism, social justice, safety, and leadership through gender-related outreach, advocacy, and support to communities of all identities.
The WGRC provides free, confidential, and voluntary counseling and advocacy services to members of The University of Alabama community who are victims/survivors of interpersonal violence. Services are also provided to family and friends who have been impacted by the abuse, to Shelton State students, and to anyone who is victimized on The University of Alabama campus.
The Safe Zone Resource Center promotes equity and inclusion for LGBTQIA+ individuals at The University of Alabama.
The Center provides educational outreach, community support and crisis intervention resources for LGBTQIA+ members of The University of Alabama community and their allies. We offer help connecting people at UA to inclusive resources, provide training on LGBTQIA+ topics for UA students, faculty and staff, facilitate LGBTQIA+ community building programs on campus, and work to advocate LGBTQIA+ interests at UA.
The Law School has 6 all gender restrooms. Signage for all gender restrooms uses a combination of the male, female and transgender graphic icons that are the current adopted standard best practice. Each of our all gender restrooms is accessible to people with disabilities and the signage shows that graphic as well as braille indicating all information on the sign. Each floor also contains at least one all gender restroom with a baby changing station, which is also indicated by a graphic icon on the sign.
LGBTQ+ content is included in many of our courses, including but not limited to our courses on Employment Discrimination, Equal Protection, Family Law, Gender & the Law, Higher Education Law, International Human Rights, and Perspectives on Citizenship. The exact percentage of course time dedicated to LGBTQ+ content varies among courses.
Like all registered student organizations, OutLaw, the Law School’s LGBTQ+ Alliance, is eligible to apply for funding from the Law School’s Student Bar Association and from the University’s Student Government Association.
Travel opportunities for students have been limited for the past two years due to the pandemic. For the past two years, the Career Services Office, in partnership with OutLaw (the Law School’s LGBTQ+ student organization), has sponsored an event that specifically addresses the needs of LGBTQ+ students. “Navigating the Job Search” is a panel featuring attorneys who are members of the LGBTQ+ community and includes a discussion of how LGBTQ+ students can prepare for a job search and how allies can assist in creating support systems in the workplace. In 2020, the the CSO offered mock interviews specifically to members of OutLaw, followed by a networking dinner; this event was presented in conjunction with the law firm of Wilson Sonsini.
In addition to the above events, the CSO advertises and supports students in applications with the Lavender Law Career Fair.
The Law School provides a number of services to LGBTQ+ students, both within the Law School and through the University. The University’s SafeZone Resource Center provides educational outreach, community support, and crisis intervention resources for LGBTQ+ members of the University community and their allies. Capstone Alliance provides additional resources and programs specifically for LGBTQ+ faculty, staff and graduate students. These programs include Lavender Graduation, which has regularly included students, faculty and staff from the Law School. GRADient is an organization specifically serving LGBTQ+ graduate students and allies. PRISM provides LGBTQ+ students of color with a community where they are welcomed and supported. Within the Law School, students may join the OutLAW, the Law School’s LGBTQ+ Alliance.
In addition to access to the University’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Law School has its own Office of Diversity and Inclusion, with a full-time Director of Diversity & Inclusion whose duties include addressing the needs of LGBTQIA+ students.
The Law School has hosted a number of events that focus on issues that affect the LGBTQ+ community. A sampling of past events includes the following: Q&A with Michelle Garcia, and LGBTQ+ attorney at New Mexico Legal Aid who leads their effort to assist LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly in tribal communities; Film Screening of “Pray Away,” a documentary about the harms of conversion therapy, followed by a panel discussion featuring a survivor of conversion therapy, an LGBTQ+ rights activist, and a licensed therapist who specializes in assisting LGBTQ+ kids; OutLaw campaign against HB1/ SB10 (companion bills in the state houses that sought to ban affirming treatment for transgender minors). This campaign included 1) a speaking event featuring a civil rights attorney from ACLU of Alabama, 2) a lunch and earn training session about phone-banking, and 3) a day of phone-banking wherein members called state legislators urging them to vote against the bills; a Tolerance Means Dialogue event featuring Professor William N. Eskridge Jr. from Yale Law School and Robin Fretwell Wilson from the University of Illinois, who discussed “Religion and Gay Marriage: Do They Have to Be at Odds? Can Students Make a Difference?”; a Transgender Passport Workshop to assist individuals in completing passport applications (co-sponsored by UA SafeZone).
LGBTQ+ faculty and students are valued members of the law school community and the law school continues to work toward increasing LGBTQ+ diversity on campus.