Clifford J. Rosky
Associate Professor of Law
Professor Rosky is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. Before joining the faculty, he served as a research fellow for the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law & Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law.
Rosky received his B.A. from Amherst College with honors in Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities and the Irving S. Ribicoff Postgraduate Research Fellow. His postgraduate research on the privatization of prisons, police, and military forces was published in the Connecticut Law Review.
After graduating from law school, Professor Rosky served as a law clerk for the Honorable Robert D. Sack on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and he worked as an associate at the law firms of Covington & Burling and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he focused on criminal, appellate, and pro bono matters. While at Akin Gump, he was recognized as the San Francisco Pro Bono Associate of the Year for his representation of Korean sex trafficking victims in connection with criminal, immigration, and administrative proceedings.
While at the Williams Institute, Rosky submitted an amicus brief to the California Supreme Court in the successful same-sex marriage appeal, published an op-ed on same-sex marriage in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, developed teaching materials for a casebook on sexual orientation and law, co-authored over 30 demographic reports on lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations in the United States, and developed judicial training courses on sexual orientation and law. Rosky continues to serve the Williams Institute as a Senior Research Fellow by conducting training courses at statewide judicial conferences.
Professor Rosky’s research is focused on discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents and children. His work has been published in the Yale Journal of Law & Feminism, the Arizona Law Review, and the Buffalo Law Review. Two of his articles have received UCLA’s prestigious Dukeminier Award, which recognizes the best articles published each year on sexual orientation and gender identity law, and a third article was recently featured on Jotwell, a peer-edited online journal that serves to identify and celebrate the best new legal scholarship in any field.
Professor Rosky is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Equality Utah, an organization that works to secure equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Utahns. In recent years, he has served on the Programs Committee of the Law & Society Association and the Organizing Committee of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities.
At the College of Law, Professor Rosky teaches courses on criminal law, constitutional law, and sexuality, gender and law, and he serves as the faculty advisor for OUTLaws, an organization of LGBT students and allies. In 2011, he received the Early Career Faculty Award for combined excellence in scholarship, teaching and service by a junior faculty member.
Scholarship Highlights
Scholarly Publications
No Promo Hetero: Children’s Right to be Queer (35 Cardozo L. Rev. __, forthcoming 2013)
Fear of the Queer Child, 60 Buff. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2013) (featured on Jotwell, a peer-edited online journal that serves to identify the best legal scholarship in any field)
To Be Male: Homophobia, Sexism, and the Production of "Masculine" Boys, in Exploring Masculinities: Feminist Legal Theory Reflections (Martha Albertson Fineman & Michael Thomson eds., Ashgate Press, 2013)
Perry v. Schwarzenegger and the Future of Same-Sex Marriage Law, 53 Ariz. L. Rev. 913 (2011) (reprinted in 2012 Dukeminier Awards Journal)
Like Father, Like Son: Homosexuality, Parenthood, and the Gender of Homophobia, 20 Yale J.L. & Feminism 257 (2009)(reprinted in 2010 Dukeminier Awards Journal)
Force, Inc.: The Privatization of Punishment, Policing, and Military Force in Liberal States, 36 Conn. L. Rev. 879 (2004)
Other Publications
Voice of the Children: Prop 8 and LGBT Families, Justice Watch, Alliance for Justice, Mar. 26, 2013 (blog)
Religious Liberties and Gay Rights, DESERET NEWS, Mar 1, 2012 (op-ed)
Employment Discrimination Against LGBT Utahns, co-authored with Christy Mallory, Jenni Smith & M.V. Lee Badgett, Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law (2011)
Hard-Fought Gay Rights Victories Do Not Prove Group's ‘Political Power', L.A. Daily J., Sept. 26, 2007, at 6 (reprinted in S.F. Daily J.) (op-ed)
Works in Progress
Like Mother, Like Daughter (analyzing judicial concerns about promiscuity in custody and visitation cases involving mothers and daughters)
The Rise and Fall of Heightened Scrutiny (analyzing the Supreme Court’s move away from a tiered analysis of suspect classifications and fundamental rights, toward a single standard of review for equal protection and due process claims)
Don’t Kiss, Don’t Tell: Homophobia, Sexism, and the Regulation of Intimate Conduct (comparing the regulation of intimate conduct in custody and visitation cases involving gay, heterosexual, male, and female parents)
A Kiss Is Not a Kiss: Gay Intimacy as Gay Sex (comparing incidents in Texas and Utah in which gay men were evicted by private property owners and police for kissing)
Is Queer Theory for Kids? (analysis of queer theory’s response to the claim that exposing children to queerness makes them more likely to become queer)
Selected Talks and Presentations
Historicizing the Fear of the Queer Child
Invited Panelist, Assoc. for the Study of Law, Culture & the Humanities, London, England, 2013
Invited Panelist, Law & Society Association, Honolulu, HI, 2012
Same-Sex Marriage and the Fear of the Queer Child
Invited Panelist, Does the Constitution Require Same-Sex Marriage? Brigham Young University, 2012
Invited Panelist, Legally Gay: The Symposium, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona
State University, 2012
Response to Martha Nussbaum, Same-Sex Marriage: Beyond the Politics of Disgust Commentator, Inaugural Lee Teitelbaum Distinguished Lecture in Family Law S.J. Quinney College of Law, 2012
Antidiscrimination Law and the Fear of a Queer Child Invited Panelist, LGBT Identity and the Law Loyola Law School, 2011
The Fear of a Queer Child: LGBT Parenting and Child Sexual and Gender Development, Invited Panelist, Williams Institute Annual Update on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy UCLA School of Law, 2011
Like Mother, Like Daughter? LGB Parenting and Child Sexual Development, Invited Panelist, Law & Society Association, San Francisco, CA 2011
Perry v. Schwarzenegger and the Fear of a Gay Child, Invited Panelist, Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2011
Perry v. Schwarzenegger and the Return of the Sex Discrimination Argument, Invited Panelist, Association of American Law Schools, San Francisco, CA 2011
Dear Justice Kennedy, Invited Panelist, Rocky Mountain Junior Scholars Forum, University of Utah, 2010
Queer Theory and Common Ground, Invited Panelist, Tanner Conference on Human Rights, Conflict Resolution, Nonviolence, and Peace: Controlling Sexuality through Violence, University of Utah, 2010
The Rise and Fall of Heightened Scrutiny, Invited Panelist, Williams Institute Junior Scholars Forum, UCLA School of Law, 2010
To Be Male: Homosexuality, Masculinity, and the Sexual Development of Boys, Invited Panelist, Feminism, Masculinities, and Law, Emory Law School, Atlanta, GA, 2009
A Kiss is Not a Kiss: Gay Intimacy as Gay Sex, Invited Panelist, Family Law Summer Camp, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, 2009
Masculinities, Homphobias, and the Regulation of Gay Parenthood, Invited Panelist, Feminism, Masculinities, and Law, Emory Law School, Atlanta, GA, 2009
Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers, and the Regulation of Intimate Conduct
Invited Panelist, Annual Meeting of Law & Society Association, Denver, CO, 2009
Invited Panelist, Emerging Family Law Scholars Conference, Boulder, CO, 2009
Invited Panelist, Annual Conference for the Association for the Study of Law, Culture,
and the Humanities, Boston, MA, 2009
Invited Panelist, The Global Arc of Justice: LGBT Rights Around the World,
UCLA School of Law, 2009
Invited Panelist, American Association of Law Professors, San Diego, CA, 2009
Invited Panelist, Lavender Law, Junior Scholars Forum, San Francisco, CA, 2008
(one of five untenured professors selected from national call for papers)
Are Gays Politically Powerless? Political Power and the Equal Protection Clause, Invited Panelist, Hot Topics Panel: California's Proposition 8, American Association of Law Professors, San Diego, CA 2009
Implementation of the Yogyakarta Principles: The Application of Human Rights Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Moderator, The Global Arc of Justice: LGBT Rights Around the World, UCLA School of Law, 2009
Like Father, Like Son: Homosexuality, Parenthood, and the Gender of Homophobia
Invited Panelist, Annual Meeting of Law & Society Association, Montreal, CA, 2008
Guest Lecturer, Sexual Orientation and Law Seminar, UCLA School of Law, 2008
Invited Speaker, Hofstra Colloquium on Law & Sexuality, Hofstra School of Law, 2008
Invited Speaker, Williams Institute Works-in-Progress, UCLA School of Law, 2007
Overview on Laws Governing Same-Sex Relationships and Gay and Lesbian Parenthood
Invited Panelist, Utah Fellows of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers,
Salt Lake City, UT, 2008
Invited Panelist, Colorado Judicial Conference, Breckenridge, CO, 2008
Invited Panelist, Nevada Family Jurisdiction Judges Conference, Ely, NV, 2008
California's Comprehensive Domestic Partnership Law: Implementation Issues, Moderator, Williams Institute Annual Update on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, UCLA School of Law, 2008
Honors & Awards
Williams Institute 2012 Dukeminier Award for Perry v. Schwarzenegger and the Future of Same-Sex Marriage Law, 53 Ariz. L. Rev. 913 (2011)
Williams Institute 2012 Michael Cunningham Prize (awarded at the UCLA School of Law to recognize one example of legal scholarship on sexual orientation and gender identity law that meets the highest standards of excellence in research and writing)
2011 Early Career Teaching Award (awarded by S.J. Quinney College of Law for combined excellence in scholarship, teaching and service by a junior faculty member)
Williams Institute 2010 Dukeminier Award for Like Father, Like Son: Homosexuality, Parenthood, and the Gender of Homophobia, 20 Yale J.L. & Feminism 257 (2009)
Irving S. Ribicoff Fellowship, Yale Law School, 2001-2002
Professional Affiliations
Chair, Board of Directors, Equality Utah (2013-present)
Treasurer, Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities (2013-present)
Member, Organizing Committee, Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, (2012-2015)
Member, Board of Directors, Equality Utah (2009-present)
Member, Programs Committee, Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, (2009-2011)
Member, Programs Committee, Law and Society Association (2009-2010)
Member, American Bar Association