Pitt Law School to Hold Lecture and Panel Discussion on Sexual Orientation in the Workplace

PITTSBURGH-The University of Pittsburgh School of Law will hold a lecture and panel discussion titled "Out and Equal in the Workplace: Sexual Orientation Discrimination" from 6 to 7:30 p.m. March 18 in the Barco Law Building Alcoa Room, 3900 Forbes Ave., Oakland.

The event is free and open to the public, but preregistration is requested since seating is limited. To register, or for more information, visit www.law.pitt.edu/outandequal or call 412-648-1490.

M.V. Lee Badgett, who studies family policy issues and labor market discrimination based upon sexual orientation, race, and gender, will deliver the keynote address. Badgett is director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration and professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and research director in the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.

Anthony C. Infanti, Pitt professor of law, will moderate a panel discussion following Badgett's lecture. Panelists will discuss current legal developments, proposed legislation, and human resources initiatives. They are Susan Frietsche, senior staff attorney for the Women's Law Project; Dan Frankel, legislator from the 23rd Legislative District in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania House of Representatives; and Gerald T. Hathaway, (LAW '79), shareholder at Littler Mendelson PC.

Badgett is the author of "When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage" (NYU Press, 2009), which focuses on U.S. and European experiences with marriage equality for gay couples. Her first book, "Money, Myths, and Change: The Economic Lives of Lesbians and Gay Men" (University of Chicago Press, 2001), presented her groundbreaking work debunking the myth of gay affluence.

Badgett's policy-related work includes testifying as an expert witness in legislative matters and litigation, analyzing public policies, consulting with regulatory bodies, briefing policymakers, writing op-ed pieces, speaking with journalists, and advising businesses.

Badgett received a PhD degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1990 and earned a BA degree in economics at the University of Chicago in 1982.

This event has been approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Board for one-and-one-half hours of substantive CLE credit. A fee of $25 will be collected at the door for CLE credit.

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