Bisexual Erasure, Marjorie Rowland, and the Evolution of LGBTQ Rights

Authors

Ann Tweedy, University of South Dakota School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

November 2023

Keywords

bisexuality, bisexual erasure, marjorie rowland, textbooks, Rowland v. Mad River Local School District, Anita Bryant, Nicholas Breiner, equal protection, first amendment, free speech, due process, education law, constitutional law, LGBTQ, LGBT

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Constitutional Law | Education Law | Fourteenth Amendment | Labor and Employment Law | Law | Law and Gender | Legal History | Sexuality and the Law

Abstract

Rowland v. Mad River Local School District, a Sixth Circuit LGBT employment discrimination case from 1984, has not received the attention it deserves. Justice Brennan’s dissent from the denial of certiorari has advanced LGBT rights significantly, while, at the same time, this dissent, along with the dissent from the Sixth Circuit majority opinion and the district court opinion, also serve as a lens to see what work in the area remains to be done. Bisexuals, despite being the largest segment of the LGBT community, are systematically erased, as scholars such as Kenji Yoshino have documented, both generally and from legal history specifically. The case has been mentioned in law review articles and discussed briefly in some sexuality and law textbooks, but warrants a much more in-depth examination. Moreover, the sacrifices Ms. Rowland endured to bring the case are completely unknown in the legal arena. Indeed it appears from the electronic research tools like Westlaw and Lexis that the case has never even been the subject of a case note.Based on an in-person interview with the plaintiff and original archival research, this article (1) recounts the many compelling aspects of Ms. Rowland’s story, (2) elucidates the contributions of the case to LGBT history, and (3) explains what we can still learn and implement from the district court opinion, the dissent in the Sixth Circuit, and Justice Brennan’s dissent from the denial of certiorari. It shines a light on an important missing piece of the LGBT rights puzzle.

Publication Title

Harvard Journal of Law and Gender

Volume

46

Issue

2

First Page

265

Last Page

324

Recommended Citation

Ann Tweedy, Bisexual Erasure, Marjorie Rowland, and the Evolution of LGBTQ Rights, 46 Harv. J. L. & Gender 265 (2023)