Location
Bell Jones Courtroom, Mercer University School of Law
Start Date
24-10-2025 1:30 PM
End Date
24-10-2025 3:00 PM
Description
Forty years ago, civil rights legend Bayard Rustin described lessons from other civil rights movements that, at the time, seemingly could inform gay rights activists in the 1980s. More recently, Evan Wolfson, an architect of the freedom-to-marry movement, has outlined several lessons of that movement that could be applied by activists in other fields, ranging from Palestinian peacemakers to transgender rights activists. Some activists may embrace these lessons, while others may passionately reject them. This panel seeks to explore how various civil rights movements have learned and borrowed from each other over time, possibly carving out lessons for current and future movements as well.
Scott Titshaw is the Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development at the Mercer University School of Law, and teaches Property, Immigration Law, and a seminar on Sexuality and the Law. Prior to joining the faculty at Mercer, Professor Titshaw was an adjunct professor at the University of Georgia School of Law and practiced immigration and transactional law for twelve years with Arnall Golden Gregory LLP in Atlanta, Georgia. Professor Titshaw also clerked with U.S. District Court Judge Adrian Duplantier in New Orleans, Louisiana, served as a legal translator with Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in Karlsruhe, Germany, and worked as a visiting foreign attorney with Roedl & Partner GbR in Nuremberg, Germany. Professor Titshaw was awarded a 2014-15 Fulbright-Schuman fellowship to complete research on these topics at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and at Leiden University Law School’s campus in The Hague, The Netherlands. In the fall of 2023, he conducted research on comparative citizenship law at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in Florence. Professor Titshaw earned a B.A. from Georgetown University, a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law, and an LL.M., magna cum laude, from the Universität Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany.
Shannon Minter is Vice President and Legal Director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, where he has spent almost 30 years. Minter was NCLR’s lead attorney in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding student group policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and rejecting the argument that such policies violated a student group’s rights to freedom of speech, religion, and association. Minter also was lead counsel in California’s marriage equality case, a predecessor case to Obergefell v. Hodges, and he has been a force in the transgender rights field, winning cases on behalf of transgender parents and members of the military. Minter also founded NCLR’s Youth Project, litigating cases on behalf of LGBT student organizations and transgender youth. In addition to practicing law, Minter now also serves on the boards of Faith in America and the Transgender Law & Policy Institute. Minter received his B.A. from the University of Texas and his J.D. from Cornell Law School.
Adelina Nicholls is a founder and Executive Director of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, a community organizing and training nonprofit, where she has spent over twenty years. Nicholls has organized grassroots opposition to Georgia’s immigrant detention policies and has led efforts for undocumented employment reform. Nicholls also provides education and resources to immigrant communities on individual due process rights. As a result of her work, Nicholls has been recognized by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Immigration Project, and Mundo Hispanico. A native of Mexico-city, Nicholls received a sociology degree from the Autonomous National University of Mexico.
Recommended Citation
Goldberg, Suzanne; Minter, Shannon; and Nicholls, Adelina, "Movement Legacies and Lessons - Moderator: Scott Titshaw" (2025). Mercer Law Review Symposium. 6.
https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/symposium/freedom_to_marry/friday/6
Included in
Constitutional Law Commons, Family Law Commons, Law and Society Commons, Sexuality and the Law Commons
Movement Legacies and Lessons - Moderator: Scott Titshaw
Bell Jones Courtroom, Mercer University School of Law
Forty years ago, civil rights legend Bayard Rustin described lessons from other civil rights movements that, at the time, seemingly could inform gay rights activists in the 1980s. More recently, Evan Wolfson, an architect of the freedom-to-marry movement, has outlined several lessons of that movement that could be applied by activists in other fields, ranging from Palestinian peacemakers to transgender rights activists. Some activists may embrace these lessons, while others may passionately reject them. This panel seeks to explore how various civil rights movements have learned and borrowed from each other over time, possibly carving out lessons for current and future movements as well.
Scott Titshaw is the Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development at the Mercer University School of Law, and teaches Property, Immigration Law, and a seminar on Sexuality and the Law. Prior to joining the faculty at Mercer, Professor Titshaw was an adjunct professor at the University of Georgia School of Law and practiced immigration and transactional law for twelve years with Arnall Golden Gregory LLP in Atlanta, Georgia. Professor Titshaw also clerked with U.S. District Court Judge Adrian Duplantier in New Orleans, Louisiana, served as a legal translator with Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in Karlsruhe, Germany, and worked as a visiting foreign attorney with Roedl & Partner GbR in Nuremberg, Germany. Professor Titshaw was awarded a 2014-15 Fulbright-Schuman fellowship to complete research on these topics at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and at Leiden University Law School’s campus in The Hague, The Netherlands. In the fall of 2023, he conducted research on comparative citizenship law at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in Florence. Professor Titshaw earned a B.A. from Georgetown University, a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law, and an LL.M., magna cum laude, from the Universität Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany.
Shannon Minter is Vice President and Legal Director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, where he has spent almost 30 years. Minter was NCLR’s lead attorney in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding student group policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and rejecting the argument that such policies violated a student group’s rights to freedom of speech, religion, and association. Minter also was lead counsel in California’s marriage equality case, a predecessor case to Obergefell v. Hodges, and he has been a force in the transgender rights field, winning cases on behalf of transgender parents and members of the military. Minter also founded NCLR’s Youth Project, litigating cases on behalf of LGBT student organizations and transgender youth. In addition to practicing law, Minter now also serves on the boards of Faith in America and the Transgender Law & Policy Institute. Minter received his B.A. from the University of Texas and his J.D. from Cornell Law School.
Adelina Nicholls is a founder and Executive Director of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, a community organizing and training nonprofit, where she has spent over twenty years. Nicholls has organized grassroots opposition to Georgia’s immigrant detention policies and has led efforts for undocumented employment reform. Nicholls also provides education and resources to immigrant communities on individual due process rights. As a result of her work, Nicholls has been recognized by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Immigration Project, and Mundo Hispanico. A native of Mexico-city, Nicholls received a sociology degree from the Autonomous National University of Mexico.