Guides: Evolving Doctrine Series: Courtney G. Joslin

Faculty Bio

Courtney G. Joslin, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law

Courtney Joslin is a leading expert in the areas of family and relationship recognition, with a particular focus on same-sex and unmarried couples. Professor Joslin's publications have appeared or are forthcoming in Boston University Law Review, California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Harvard Law Review Forum, Iowa Law Review, NYU Law Review, Southern California Law Review, UCLA Law Review, and Yale Law Journal Forum, among other sources. She is a co-author of two popular textbooks -- Sexuality, Gender, and the Law, with William N. Eskridge Jr. & Nan D. Hunter, and Modern Family Law, with D. Kelly Weisberg. Her commentary has appeared in the Washington Post, the LA Times, the Sacramento Bee, Slate Verdict, and elsewhere.

She is a two-time recipient (2010 & 2019) of the Dukeminier Award for her articles Protecting Children (?) and Discrimination In and Out of Marriage. The Dukeminier Award is awarded annually to recognize the best legal scholarship on sexual orientation and gender identity law. Joslin's article Modernizing Divorce Jurisdiction won the 2011 AALS New Voices in Gender Studies Paper Competition.

Select Scholarship

The Rights of Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, and Transgender People by Courtney G. Joslin; Sharon M. Mcgowan; Nan D. Hunter
Call Number: LRC Reading Room ; KF4754.5.Z9 R53 2004
ISBN: 0809325187
Publication Date: 2004-02-05
A completely revised edition of the authoritative ACLU guide to LGBT rights In its fourth edition, this fully revised and updated survey covers the rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people under present law, specifically in regard to freedom of speech and association, employment, housing, the military, family and parenting, and HIV disease. Utilizing an accessible question-and-answer format and nontechnical language, The Rights of Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, and Transgender People provides an overview for understanding both the general themes in legal doctrine and the way in which individuals can begin the process of asserting rights provided by the law. First published in 1975, the volume has evolved in structure and content over the past three decades in accordance with changes in the laws it describes. The inclusion of legal issues regarding bisexuals and transgender people in this edition emphasizes the importance of recognizing specificity and difference within the gay community, particularly due to the strong link between sexual orientation and transgender issues. New to this edition are two appendixes that include contact information for national and regional LGBT legal groups, an overview of the legal system to explain some of the terms and concepts that appear throughout the book, and a summary of highlights of the law state by state.

Journal Articles

Courtney G. Joslin & Douglas NeJaime, Multiparenthood, 99 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1242 (2024)
Courtney G. Joslin & Douglas NeJaime, How Parenthood Functions, 123 Colum. L. Rev. 319 (2023)
Courtney G. Joslin & Catherine Sakimura, Fractured Families: LGBTQ People and the Family Regulation System, 13 Calif. L. Rev. Online 78 (2022)
Courtney G. Joslin, Nonmarriage: The Double Bind, 90 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 571 (2022)
Courtney G. Joslin, Autonomy in the Family, 66 UCLA L. Rev. 912 (2019)
Courtney G. Joslin, Discrimination In and Out of Marriage, 98 B.U. L. Rev. 1 (2018)
Courtney G. Joslin, The Gay Rights Canon and the Right to Nonmarriage, 97 B.U. L. Rev. 425 (2017)
Courtney G. Joslin, Marriage Equality and its Relationship to Family Law, 129 Harv. L. Rev. F. 197 (2016)
Courtney G. Joslin, Federalism and Family Status, 90 Ind. L.J. 787 (2015)
Courtney G. Joslin, Modernizing Divorce Jurisdiction: Same-Sex Couples and Minimum Contacts, 91 B.U. L. Rev. 1669 (2011)
Courtney G. Joslin, Protecting Children(?): Marriage, Gender, and Assisted Reproductive Technology, 83 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1177 (2010)

News, Magazines, and Other Media

Courtney G. Joslin & Douglas NeJaime, Opinion, J.D. Vance’s Views on Stepparents Are Straight Out of Project 2025, Slate (Aug. 2, 2024).
Courtney G. Joslin & Mary Ziegler, Opinion, Sam Alito Is to Blame for the Alabama Supreme Court’s Devastating Anti-IVF Ruling, Slate (Feb. 20, 2024).
Courtney G. Joslin & Douglas NeJaime, Opinion, The Next Normal: States Will Recognize Multiparent Families, Wash. Post (Jan. 30, 2022).

For more scholarship, visit Professor Joslin's Google Scholar Profile page