A memorial award in perpetuity was established in 1976 by friends and colleagues of the late Dr. Blaine DeLancey, Professor of English at Brockport, 1934-1966. This award is given annually to an undergraduate or graduate major in the Department of English who submits the best critical essay (either original material or the result of research) on (1) a British or American author, (2) a literary genre, or (3) some combination of (1) and (2). The winning essay is determined by a committee within the Department of English. In 1979, this award was given to Nancy Kress, who later served on the faculty at The College at Brockport, and went on to become a world famous author.

This paper discusses the rights of LGBT individuals to adopt children, in light of the recent legalization of same-sex marriage, as well as the basic rights of children to a stable home, and basic social and economic justice for adults and children.

The United States’ legal history shows a record of minorities being disenfranchised simply because of who they are. Humans do not have control over certain features, such as race, nationality, sex, gender, or physical ability. However, those who fall outside the “norm” of all of these things are treated as if they do, as if they choose to inhabit a specific race, sex, or disabled body. Given that lawyers and judges are just as much social beings as everyone else, they are not immune to these prejudices. Therefore, these sentiments often linger in courtrooms and are used in arguments to deny peoples some of their most basic rights. People within the transgender community tend to fall outside of society’s neatly constructed gender binary and, like so many other groups, face marginalization in various areas of social life for being different. From education to employment and marriage to incarceration, the trans community encounters discrimination almost every step of the way. In attempts to remedy these wrongs, many transgendered individuals have begun turning to litigation in recent years. There has been, and continues to be, a particularly high volume of cases filed regarding employment discrimination. While discrimination still runs rampant throughout society, the purpose of this paper is to introduce a brief history of the transgender movement and trace the extent to which four decades of litigation have redefined sex and subsequently improved employment rights for transgendered citizens in the United States of America.

The Douglas A. Feldman LGBT Paper Award was created to award undergraduate students who write an academic research paper, either original research or a review of literature, focusing on the social and cultural experiences of LBGT individuals.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals are at high risk for bullying. Research suggests that experiencing discrimination or a hate crime based on sexual orientation can have a severe negative impact on LGB individuals. Indeed, these experiences have been shown to lead to trauma among LGB individuals. However, recent research has explored the phenomena of posttraumatic growth—positive psychological change following a trauma (PTG)—to occur. The present research explores the potential factors that predict PTG among bullied LGB individuals. One hundred thirty-nine participants identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual who indicated that they had been bullied completed a series of questionnaires regarding bullying experiences (e.g., due to sexual orientation, severity, and frequency), outness (i.e., the degree to which various people knew of their sexual orientation), social support, and posttraumatic growth. Structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that LGB individuals who were bullied due to their sexual orientation perceived the bullying to be more severe than did those who were bullied for some other reason (e.g., weight, shyness) and subsequently experienced more PTG. Furthermore, outness predicted increased social support, which in turn, predicted PTG. The present findings show that bullying based on sexual orientation is perceived as particularly severe, but that posttraumatic growth can also emerge as a result. Furthermore, outness and social support were shown to be important predictors of PTG among bullied LGB individuals.