Melbourne Law School’s Queer Law Reading Group brings together academic staff and students - both research students and coursework students - to discuss legal topics affecting LGBT+ people, to reflect on the law and lawyering through the experience of queer people and to engage with critical queer writings about law, politics and society.
We welcome people with a history of queer, gender and intersectional politics studies and those new to the idea of queer theory but eager to learn and read. The reading group is a supportive and welcoming environment. The goal of the reading group, which is led by the law school’s queer liaison officer and supported by the Law Students' Society Queer Directors, is to draw connections - with each other, experience and critiques of the law.
There is no need to register to come along, but please try to read and set aside some time to think about the set reading in advance of our meetings.
Queer Cowboys in Mexico City, Brad Jessup (2017) ©
The upcoming read is:
Tuesday 9 August 2022, 1:00pm - 2:00pm, Student Enrichment Centre, Melbourne Law School:
Willful knitting? Contemporary Australian craftivism and feminist histories
The Queer Reading Group and the Crafty Collective collide to talk knitting, feminisms and environmental activism.
In this iteration of the Queer Reading Group, we will read and discuss (while knitting or learning to knit) the article by Kyra Clarke.
Thursday 31 March 2022, 4.15pm - 5.15pm, Room 317:
'The aftermath of marriage equality in Australia Religious freedom and LGBTQ+ non-discrimination' by Louise Richardson-Self, Bronwyn Fielder, and Douglas Ezzy
Through this reading we will reflect on the federal legal attempts over summer to introduce a religious discrimination act and amend the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) to remove exemptions for religious schools, and one school’s plans to discriminate and shame its queer students. In addition to offering political and legal views, the hope of using this reading is to highlight the experience of those people presently affected by the current legal regime and politicising of queerness.