Word: hls
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...this reunion is unusual in that many of the school’s gay and lesbian alumni have less than positive memories of their HLS experience. This I know first-hand. As part of an HLS project, I met with or interviewed by telephone about 85 of these GLBT graduates this past spring. I asked them what it was like to be gay at HLS when they were there, and whether they remembered their Harvard experience fondly. Some had graduated in the 1950s, before “being gay” meant anything to anyone. Others graduated just a couple...
...while much changed over the years, and while many people loved their HLS experiences, one theme linked these many men and women: Harvard Law School itself had never been particularly friendly to them as gay men and women. Rarely did the alumni I spoke with report feeling that the school itself or anyone representing it was overtly homophobic; nor did they recall being subject to much hostility from straight students, as incidents of harassment have been few and far between...
...equally rarely has HLS gone out of its way to make its GLBT students feel comfortable as other schools have, whether by hiring openly gay faculty members, offering courses in sexual orientation and the law or fostering a reputation as a diverse and accepting environment. One explanation is that the school has historically put a premium on intellectual and scholarly achievement, and has rarely seemed interested with how people spend their time outside the classroom or who they are as people...
...despite any indifference they may have experienced at HLS, upon graduation many of these gay and lesbian law students became out and proud lawyers and openly gay leaders in various legal fields. Moreover, many of the men and women who quickly broke barriers by being out on the job were fully closeted while at HLS, or only beginning to come out; others were not yet out even to themselves...
Over time, students have become more comfortable being out at HLS, despite the institution’s continuous indifference and their relatively small numbers. Significantly, it has been gay Harvard alumni who have accelerated the acceptability of coming out at HLS. For as Harvard’s gay graduates made their presence known at law firms, and rose to those firms’ highest ranks, they became involved in and responsible for hiring—and sent the message that it was okay to be openly gay in the recruiting process. As gay alumni began producing scholarship in the field...