Michigan Law School Grads Walk Out For Equality

There are those who think the younger generation is hopeless and this country is going to the dogs. I am not one of those. And if the young graduates of the Michigan School of Law this year are any example, I think we may be passing the country on to a generation that is better than we are.

Without asking these graduates who they would like to speak to them at the graduation, the school asked Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) -- a well-known homophobe. Well, this didn't sit well with some of the graduates and a walkout was organized. The Dean tried to talk them out of it, but when it came time for Portman to speak more than 100 of the graduates (and a few guests) walked out of the auditorium. One of the organizers said:

"The walkout was a statement to a broader audience - America. I think this whole episode fits within the thesis of Minnesota Law Professor Dale Carpenter's recent New York Times Op-Ed about King & Spaulding's withdrawal from defending DOMA: The legal profession has simply moved past the point where LGBT rights are just another political issue, instead recognizing that discriminating against any group of people based on who they are is simply unacceptable in today's society. This walkout, like the Op-Ed, like the Justice Department's refusal to defend DOMA, is another data point for this observation. Here, even more specifically, we were saying that the for the nextgeneration of lawyers, this is not even a debatable issue."

I am proud of these young graduates who will soon be attorneys. It is only right that those in the legal profession defend the Constitution and its declaration of equality for all American citizens. If the lawyers can't stand up for equality under the law, then who can?

Thank you to all those graduates who walked out of their own ceremony to stand up for their fellow citizens. The steps you took were toward justice and a better America for everyone.