U. S. Attorney Joyce Vance lectured today about the U.S. Justice Department’s role in protecting LGBTQ+ civil rights.
Vance acknowledged that the conversation about civil rights and civil rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans can be combative at times, but she told students and faculty that the question cuts to the very core of the responsibility of lawyers.
“Our job as lawyers is to remove our personal beliefs and our preconceptions from the issue,” said Vance, the top-ranking federal law enforcement official in the Northern District of Alabama. “Our job as lawyers is to examine the facts, to examine the law, to look at the equation from all sides, to reach legal conclusions that we move forward on, legal conclusions that aren’t those that play into our preconceived notions and our beliefs but those that have integrity based on the facts and on the law.”
Daiquiri Steele, Director of Diversity & Inclusion and Assistant Professor of Law in Residence, said current Alabama Law students are matriculating during a time in which the Department of Justice’s role in LGBTQ+ legal issues is evolving. It is important, she said, to provide opportunities for students to learn from and discuss these issues with individuals who are at the forefront of this evolution.
In 2009, Vance said, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 was established to help local and state officials investigate hate crimes. A year later, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 was authorized, allowing gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to serve openly in the U.S. Armed Forces. A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
Vance compared what’s happening today with civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community with what happened in the nation in 1963, the same year the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested and wrote the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and protesters participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
“It’s a better world,” she said. “It’s not perfect world.”