LGBTQ+ Law

LGBTQ+ law has evolved rapidly in recent decades. Primary law related to LGBTQ+ issues consists of constitutions, statutes, regulations, and case law. While United States Supreme Court cases like Bowers v. Hardwick, Lawrence v. Texas, Obergefell v. Hodges, and many more have dominated media coverage of LGBTQ+ law, federal and state statutes, administrative law like regulations and agency guidance, state case law, and local ordinances all play a role.

Researchers should try multiple tactics to fully research primary law on LGBTQ+ issues and are encouraged to follow the Rombauer method of legal research, which begins with a preliminary analysis to identify legal issues and relevant secondary sources, moves to researching codified law like statutes and ordinances, identifies and explores case law, and then updates all primary law to make sure that it is still good law.

Consulting legal secondary sources is one of the best ways to begin your research on LGBTQ+ law. While this page covers researching primary law, the "Secondary Legal Sources" page in this guide provides selected lists of relevant secondary sources for researching LGBTQ+ law.

The United States Code (U.S.C.) is available in a number of locations, such as in print in the library [KF62 .A2] and via GovInfo.gov.Annotated codes, such as the U.S.C.A. (United States Code Annotated), which is available on Westlaw, and the U.S.C.S. (United States Code Service), which is available on Lexis+, are useful research tools. Westlaw and Lexis also have all 50 state annotated statutory codes. In addition to the text of the statute, an annotated code includes notes and commentary on the law, such as summaries of relevant judicial decisions and citations to secondary sources that discuss the statute.

Regulations

Regulatory law may also provide protection of privacy rights.  Use the following resources to search for proposed rules, notices, guidance, and other administrative law.

• Federal Administrative Rules and Regulations
  • Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) – www.ecfr.gov.  Updated daily, the e-CFR contains the general and permanent rules of government agencies arranged by subject. 
  • Federal Register – www.federalregister.gov. This daily publication includes proposed rules for notice and comment, final rules, public notices, and other public documents. 
• State Administrative Rules and Regulations:  There are a wide variety of administrative agencies in each state.  Proposed rules, notices, etc. usually appear in a daily or periodically published “register” and are later codified into an administrative “code.” 
  • For instance, the North Carolina Register and North Carolina Administrative Code are both made available online by the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings. For more information about researching regulatory law in North Carolina, consult our research guide on the topic.

Agencies

Agency Websites: If you know the agency—state or federal—that regulates the area of LGBTQ+ law that interests you, try looking on the agency website for information.  Many publish proposed rules, public alerts, and other useful information that could be valuable for your research.

Court opinions can be a rich source of information on LGBTQ+ law.

Starting Points for Finding Cases

• Statutes: If you are researching a statute, access that statute via an annotated code (Westlaw or Lexis) and then find cases interpreting the statute using annotations (Notes of Decisions or Case Notes) and citators (Citing References or Shepherd's).
• Secondary sources: Treatises, legal encyclopedias, and other secondary sources generally describe relevant cases and provide citations to them.
• Database Searches and Starting Points: You can also conduct case law searches on Westlaw, Lexis+, or Bloomberg Law. Make sure to pay attention to citators, which will guide you in determining whether a case is good law.