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In most circumstances, it is important to have a lawyer working with the campaign.
As explained in the next section, lawyers can help you write, negotiate, and
answer arguments against any policy proposal. If you are proposing a domestic
partnership policy for a health care plan, an economist who is familiar with
health care economics is essential. Depending on how you go about proving
your case, how much you need to teach your board, and how elaborate you decide
to make any public hearing, you many also need:
- A psychologist, to explain that being LGBT is not an illness,
and/or the damage that discrimination does to people;
- A scientist to explain that we don't know the origins of sexual
orientation or gender identity (some M.D.s can do this, some psychologists
can do it, some biologists can do it);
- A public health expert to refute the argument, if it gets made,
that AIDS or other public health concerns are a legitimate reason to
discriminate;
- A social scientist to help with surveys, and/or to explain the
damage that discrimination does to society.
You shouldn't have to pay for either lawyers or experts.
A volunteer policy campaign should be able to get voluntary help.
More important, people who propose to help you for a fee are less likely
to know what they are doing anyway. Particularly with law the issues which
are important to these policy campaigns are just not areas in which there
is much commercial work to be done. The people who know their stuff (and
are not working for the institutions you are trying to influence) either
work for public interest organizations, universities, or do this kind of
work for the love of it.
Most of the writing described in this resource will be easier if you have a lawyer helping you. If you are just adding "sexual orientation," or "gender identity," to an existing law or policy, a lawyer is less crucial for writing. If you are adding sexual orientation to a university or business policy, which are usually much simpler and straight foreword than laws, you man not need writing help at all.
But even if you don't need a lawyer to help write the policy, you may need one for
other reasons. Many of the arguments people will make against the policy will be
essentially legal arguments. For example, opponents typically argue that cities
don't have power to pass nondiscrimination laws or argue that discrimination is
already covered by state or federal law. It will be much easier to sort these
out and respond if you've got a lawyer helping you. Equally important, your
replies are likely to be more credible if you've got a lawyer backing you up,
or, better still, a lawyer making your legal arguments for you. This is
particularly important if the legal argument you are responding to is
coming from a lawyer, especially a city attorney.
In addition, opponents, members of the board and even friends are likely to propose
amendments to your policy. The effects of some will be obvious. But the effects
of others will not be. Having a lawyer to help you figure out what amendments
mean is especially important if you need to respond quickly.
It is important to get the advice of a lawyer who does not work for the city or other organization you want to have adopt the policy. "In house" lawyers, especially those who work for local government, often have a narrow view of what the institution can do. While a narrow view sometimes really reflects limits on power, sometimes it is a convenient way to get rid of people, or worse, a line to cover opposition to the policy itself.
The best kind of lawyer is someone who is sympathetic to your goals but who retains enough detachment to give you realistic answers to legal questions, not just the answers you may want to hear. Your lawyer should know something about the law on municipal power or the powers of whatever institution you want to have adopt a policy. He or she should know something about state and federal civil rights laws. He or she should also be willing to do some research, stay with you throughout the process, and appear in public to answer questions.
You may have to put this ideal advisor together using several different persons. A legal advisory committee, since it has people with different training and allows the work to be spread, is often a good idea.
First, call the lawyers you know who will be sympathetic. Even if they are not right for the job, they are your best shot at finding someone who is. Ask people working with you on the campaign, and then friends if they know of a lawyer who might be willing to help or who might know someone. Call those lawyers and ask them for referrals if they are unavailable to help you themselves.
If you cannot find someone local outside the city attorney's office (and perhaps, even if you do), try going to the nearest law school. See if there is a LGBT student group or a chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild or a similar national organization that supports LGBT rights. Students are often able to get help from sympathetic professors.
You can also get help from national and regional legal organizations which support LGBT rights (Lambda Legal, the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild). Some have regional affiliates and chapters which may be able to help with day to day advice.
An economic expert can be helpful with a civil rights policy, providing testimony about the costs of discrimination, etc. If you decide to propose a domestic partnership policy which involves some form of valuable benefit, an economist or financial analyst is almost essential. One of the central issues with any valuable domestic partnership benefit plan is cost. There are at least two potential kinds of cost considerations, and several ways to adjust plans to modify costs.
There is also a significant amount of information about cost, in the experiences of employers who have adopted benefit plans and in several expert studies. You'll need an expert to understand and evaluate the experience data. Some of the studies are subtly based on very pessimistic assumptions, which don't prove out when plans are adopted. You'll need a sharp expert to find the assumptions and explain what's wrong with them.
You want to avoid house experts, people who work for the institution you want to adopt the policy. The pressure on them to come up with the numbers or opinions their employers would like to see is just too great. For the same reason, be wary of people who make a good portion of their living acting as paid consultants for similar institutions. They'll be under pressure to get answers their clients will like.
As with your lawyer, your other experts should be sympathetic to your goals but not blinded by them. She or he should know something about the benefits you are looking at; how it works, what its problems are.
It's really the same as looking for a lawyer.
Start with people you know in the field, and if you don't know anyone,
ask people connected to the campaign, friends and family if any of them
know anyone. If that fails, look to the academic world. If you know
anyone on a university faculty, ask them to look for you. Contact LGBT
student groups. Student groups often have contacts to faculty, and in any
case the students are likely to know who might by sympathetic. If that fails,
try one of the national LGBT rights organizations for a referral.
>> Next: 4. The Process and the Players
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