The Annual Update, UCLA Williams Institute’s signature event, will address issues at the intersection of sexual orientation and gender identity law and policy. This year’s conference will be held from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, April 7, at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center.

From 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., panelists will discuss issues such as the repeal of protections for transgender students and a proposal for a broad religious exemption to non-discrimination protections, the impact of a new justice on the Supreme Court and the increased number of anti-LGBT bills in states across the country.

Panelists include:

  • Melissa Goodman, director of the ACLU of South California’s LGBTQ, Gender and Reproductive Justice Project;
  • Shannon Minter, legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights;
  • Nancy Polikoff, moderator and Williams Institute visiting scholar;
  • Meeth Soni, directing attorney of the adult representation project at ImmDef;
  • and Rick Zbur, executive director at Equality California.

From 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., panelists will talk about gender identity data collection, data from the United States Transgender Survey, the California Health Interview Survey and other large surveys. This will be the first time that new California Health Interview Survey data on gender identity and expression among people in California will be presented.

Panelists include:

  • Kerith Conron, moderator and research director at the Williams Institute;
  • Jody Herman, public policy scholar at the Williams Institute;
  • Sandy James, survey project manager at the National Center for Transgender Equality;
  • Adam Romero, legal scholarship and federal policy director at the Arnold D. Kassoy Scholar of Law and Senior Counsel;
  • and Bianca Wilson, Rabbi Barbara Zacky senior scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute.

From 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., teams from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and UCLA School of Law will compete in the final round of the annual moot court competition, after surviving preliminary rounds involving 30 different law schools. The teams will debate the constitutionality of an HB2-styled state law that attempts to strip local governments of their ability to prohibit discrimination against LGB people.

At 5 p.m., the conference will present a unique opportunity to hear directly from leading judges in a candid conversation about their decisions impacting civil rights.

The conference is free and open to the public. Registration for the conference is required and can be made online. For information on the Gala Awards Reception and Founders Dinner, both ticketed events, go here.