The Maurer School of Law LGBT Alumni Advisory Board was formed in 2009 to provide support and guidance to the law school's LGBT students, sponsor professional and social activities for its LGBT and ally alumni, and raise awareness about LGBT issues in the larger Maurer community. 

Since it was organized, the Maurer Board has organized four major programs dealing with timely topics affecting the LGBT community. The first was held in March 2010 with panelists discussing marriage equality, including the history of same-sex marriage, key cases and ongoing litigation.  In April 2010, Maura Healey, Chief of the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's office, keynoted a symposium on the future of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  (Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage and filed suit against DOMA in 2009.)  In November 2011, Judge Vaughn Walker, former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, delivered a lecture at Maurer titled, "On the Bench and in the Game."  While on the bench, Judge Walker ruled in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that California's Proposition 8 was unconstitutional. And in April 2013, retired Ambassador Michael Guest spoke on America's role in promoting LGBT equality around the globe in a lecture co-sponsored by the Maurer Board and the new IU School of Global and International Studies.    

Judge Vaughn Walker

"Maurer's LGBT Alumni Advisory Board has been an invaluable resource," says Hannah L. Buxbaum, Interim Dean and John E. Schiller Chair in Ethics at the law school.  "In addition to arranging panels and lectures about current LGBT issues, the Board has provided networking and mentoring opportunities for our students as they prepare for careers in the profession."

In addition to speakers and programming, the Maurer Board has instituted a mentoring program for LGBT and ally Maurer students; sponsored students to participate in the Williams Institute Moot Court Competition at UCLA, the premier national moot court competition on sexual orientation and gender identity; hosted a table at the annual Lambda Legal dinner; hosted several luncheon meetings where students can discuss issues important to them with LGBT and ally alumni; and provided numerous net-working opportunities.

This past February, several Maurer alumni met with students to discuss being out in the workplace and related issues. The Maurer Board makes a point of seeking input from OUTlaw, the Maurer LGBT student organization, and involving the students in all major decisions.  "The relationship between the Maurer Board and OUTlaw is one of the cornerstones of the OUTlaw group," says Ian Doig, former President of OUTlaw.  "The Maurer Board members are an inspiration to us all, as they not only provide exceptional support, but also model the types of lawyers, leaders, and advocates we hope to become."

GLBTAA members Jerry Burgdoerfer, Erica DeSantis, Margaret Emmert, John Fischer, Jim Reed, Steve Sanders, Ryan Scott and Mike Shumate are founding members and currently serve as directors of the Maurer Board.  Jerry Burgdoerfer and Mike Shumate serve as President and Vice President, respectively

OUTlaw members with Judge Walker

A few more OUTlaws (but more casual)!

IUB sophomore and GLBTAA member Aaron Kaleb Crain was awarded the McKaig Student Award recently (see paragraph 6 of our May Newsletter) for his response to hate speech and efforts to bring Judy Shepard to Bloomington, which has now been rescheduled for October 22. The following article was published by the Herald-Times on April 7, 2013. With permission by Mike Leonard, the article is republished below. 

Aaron Kaleb Crain

It was just another day on the Indiana University campus last fall when Kaleb Crain heard one of the notorious "hate preachers" call him out as the IU sophomore cruised past the "free speech zone" between Woodburn and Ballantine halls.

"See that kid in the wheelchair?" the evangelist called out. "He's being punished for homosexual sins in a past life."

Anger, amazement and amusement simultaneously coursed through the IU student. "If you're a Christian, don't you believe in resurrection, not reincarnation?" Crain recalled thinking, retelling the story last week. "And, of course, how did he know whether I was gay?"

The preacher was about to find out.

"I didn't even stop. I literally rolled on by and came back to my room to change clothes," he said. "I put on a rainbow T-shirt, rainbow shoelaces, a rainbow button on my shirt. The only thing I was missing was a rainbow cape.

"I was literally yelling out, 'I need a Sharpie! Who's got a Sharpie I can borrow for a minute?'"

A marker quickly appeared and Crain wrote "I'm gay" on one arm and "God loves me" on the other. His ability to walk impaired by cerebral palsy, the IU student put his thumb down hard on his wheelchair controls to speed as quickly as possible back to the scene where he was heckled.

Crain rolled up behind the preacher and held his bare forearms - and their message - out for all to see, palms up, his head slightly bowed. "I think only the Christians got the symbolism," he said. "Words can crucify people, too. How many teen suicides have you read about because of someone's hateful words?"

The crowd of curious onlookers erupted in applause. And the Bloomington High School North graduate held his arms aloft for so long that tears began running down his face because of the physical pain.

"Then, there was this group of six students - I have no idea who they were, and I still don't - they began taking shifts holding my arms up for me, one on each arm. It was pretty amazing," Crain said.

And pretty motivating.

The Read Center resident hopes to be a high school teacher one day, and so he developed a lesson plan. He wrote the same words, "I'm gay" and "God loves me" on a board and returned to the grassy area in the middle of campus every day that week to mock the preacher's warped interpretation of Christian theology. "I'm all about love and acceptance, but I did get a little sarcastic," he admitted. "I was acting like the circus barker, saying 'Step right up and see bigotry at its finest, right here on the IU campus. For one week only!'" he recalled, grinning.

The episode also motivated Crain to do an Internet search to find out who books and promotes speaker Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, the Wyoming college student who was beaten, tortured and left to die in a 1998 incident that shocked a nation and spawned federal hate crime legislation that now bears his name.

"I knew that I wanted to bring her here to IU to speak. She's an inspiration to me," he said.

Crain single-handedly raised more than $12,000 to book the gay rights and anti-hate crime advocate for a 7-8:30 p.m. lecture, "The Meaning of Matthew," Wednesday at Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union. Several schools, departments and organizations donated to support the lecture, with the largest amount, $3,000, coming from the IU Foundation through the Culture of Care program sponsored by the IU Student Association.

The Bloomington student's efforts, from his initial, courageous reaction to the verbal assault to his dogged pursuit of funding for an important student program, led to Crain being named a winner of the McKaig Student Award, named after former IU Dean of Students Dick McKaig. It will be presented in a program April 18 at the IMU.

The easygoing and articulate IU student said he's flattered and honored to win the award but a little uncomfortable with the attention. "This is not about me. My efforts have been about the event and Judy Shepard's message and the changes we still need to see in our society," he said.

"Someone once told me that silence is complaisant to bigotry," Crain said. "It's funny how that was playing over and over in my head the summer before my little incident. At that point it just clicked with me. I can't be silent any longer."