“
It's this kind of rebellious spirit that will perhaps go down as Penn Law's greatest contribution to the LGBT community. Through its dedication to advocating for social justice, it is effectively charging up and sending out an army of do-gooders ready to put up their dukes to fight the good fights."
—Bud Jerke L’10 that includes LGBT persons, not just racial or gender minori-
who are now out there taking on some of today’s biggest battles,
ties.”
which at the moment — at least on the LGBT front — seem to
And he was right. He started at a time when Lambda Law
revolve around marriage equality.
was one of the most vocal groups on campus. He saw gay
and lesbian students voted by their peers into high-ranking
folks, including law school professor Seth Kreimer and lecturer
class-office positions (seven of the last 10 class presidents
Mark Aronchick C’71, and three recent grads, John Stapleton
have been LGBT.) He sat through lectures led by professors
L’02, Rebecca Melley L’07 and Dylan Steinberg L’06, on a
like Tobias Wolff and Seth Kreimer, two veritable firebrands
lawsuit to overturn Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage.
in the modern gay rights movement. And those chili suppers
Former class president Dee Spagnuolo L’03 recently joined a
hosted by Gary Clinton and Don Millinger had evolved from
separate, more-grassroots marriage fight — and made history —
an intimate get-together with 20 students to an all-out party
when she and her partner of 17 years, Sasha Ballen, became the
that’s 60 to 70 people strong. But perhaps the gesture that
first same-sex couple in the state to receive a marriage certificate
impressed him most was the school’s continuous protesting of
after a Montgomery County clerk defied state law and began
JAG, the legal arm of the armed forces that came to recruit on
issuing them to homosexual couples in late July. When the State
Penn’s campus.
Department of Health eventually sued to invalidate the licenses,
“Prior to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ there was a lot of contro-
Penn alumnus Robert Heim L’72 agreed to represent them and a
versy, because gay students weren't eligible to be part of JAG
few dozen other couples, pro bono.
(the military’s legal arm),” he says. Despite years of trying to ban
As a straight man, Heim didn’t necessarily have as much of
it, the Solomon Amendment legally required Penn to allow JAG
a personal investment in the case as Roper and Spagnuolo. In
to recruit on campus, but it wasn't about to roll out a welcome
the early 70s, when he was at Penn, gay issues were barely even
mat. Every year at recruitment time he'd watch with pride as
talked about, usually pushed to the back burner by discussions
students, faculty and administration showed up in droves wav-
about Vietnam. But his decision to take on this case, like many
ing flags, toting pro-equality signs and wearing t-shirts embla-
of his fellow alumni will agree, stems from the opportunity Penn
zoned with the word “Lambda.”
gave him to look at all issues with an open mind, and then charge
ahead with what he sees as a worthy cause. “The school teaches
I guess we all know what happened to “don’t ask, don’t tell”
next.
Mary Catherine Roper is working with a whole team of Penn
you to think carefully about the issues and listen to others, and then make a judgement after you’ve thought and listened and
It's this kind of rebellious spirit that will perhaps go down as Penn Law's greatest contribution to the LGBT community. Through its dedication to advocating for social justice, it is effectively charging up and sending out an army of do-gooders
understood,” he says. “That’s a great gift Penn Law gave all of us.” Jo s h M i d d l e to n i s a r e p o rt e r a n d e d i to r- at- l a r g e f o r P h i l a d e l p h i a m ag a z i n e ’ s L G B T b l o g , G P h i l ly
ready to put up their dukes to fight the good fights. And the army keeps getting larger. This fall eight percent of the IL class will identify as LGBT, one day joining the ranks of those alums P ENN L AW J O U RNA L fall 2 0 13 2 5