Twenty years ago, I attended my first gay Pride celebration in my hometown of Nashville, Tenn. It marked the beginning of my advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ community -- and has informed all that I have done since. This is the work that drives me.
Over the past two decades, the tools I've used to enact change have evolved as I have continued my education. I began my career in the LGBTQ movement as the director of the organization that produced the Pride event in Nashville. But I soon learned the power of the law. City officials tried, time and again, to block the celebration. They increased the number of costly, off-duty police officers we had to hire to provide security. They demanded, the morning of the event one year, that we display documents proving that our tents were flame retardant. Every year but one, they refused to close the main street for our parade. When necessary, we threatened a lawsuit; and each time, our celebration proceeded.
I wanted to wield the power of the law for good. So I came here, to Loyola Law School, on a public interest scholarship. When I graduated a decade ago, many states still considered gays and lesbians criminals. Just months later, while I was studying for the bar exam, I witnessed the law serving as an agent of justice: In Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Texas's law -- which criminalized sexual acts between same-sex partners, but not partners of the opposite sex -- was unconstitutional.
It took another decade, but last month we once again witnessed the law's potential to expand -- not restrict -- our rights. Marriage for same-sex couples is now allowed in California, thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling in Hollingsworth v. Perry. On the same day, the Court ensured that married same-sex couples will receive federal benefits, by striking down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act in Windsor v. United States, a lawsuit the ACLU filed with our courageous client Edie Windsor.
To me, these cases are why we go to law school. They show how essential legal tools are to safeguarding our rights. They show how we can use legal arguments to enact real, tangible change for those in our community. They show how, as lawyers, we can remain true to ourselves, to our passions.
The 10 years since I graduated from Loyola Law School have been defining ones in our fight for LGBTQ rights. The law has restored justice to California's marriage system. Roughly five years after the passage of Prop. 8, the Supreme Court's decision in the Perry lawsuit brought the freedom to marry back to the state. And in Windsor v. United States, a lawsuit has brought an end to the unequal federal benefits system, which deprived married same-sex couples of the federal benefits afforded married opposite-sex couples.
For me personally, the past decade has also been about self-knowledge, and learning how to remain true to my passions within my chosen career. Reflecting on this work, I'm reminded of why I chose the law as my profession, of why it's so important to have strong advocates who speak the language of the law.
I was born in 1970 - the same year that Pride began. Throughout my career, I have worked hard to remember that fact, to remember what I care about, and what I am working for.
James Gilliam is the Deputy Executive Director of the ACLU/SC; Cross-posted from Summary Judgements: The Loyola Law School, Los Angeles Faculty Blog

Throughout the summer, the ACLU of Southern California hosted a series of 'Brown Bag' lunch lectures led by attorneys, scholars, organizers and civic actors. This week, we are sharing highlights from these sessions in blog, video and Q&A format.

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Father Gregory J. Boyle founded Homeboy Industries after the LA riots in 1992, as a way to offer gang members an escape from the “demonizing suppression” they face from law enforcement and society.
Despite the criticism, hate mail and death threats, Father Boyle continues to “stand at the margins with the poor and the powerless, the voiceless, the easily despised and readily left out” and alongside “those whose burdens are more than they can bear and whose dignity has been denied.”
Homeboy Industries is now one of the largest, if not the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and reentry program in the world with four locations and more than 5,000 gang members walking through its doors each year. In his ‘Brown Bag’ session, he discusses the history of the organization, describes his moving experiences with individual gang members and delivers insight on issues that gang members face today.
In an era of the CalGang system, gang injunctions, and an “us versus them” attitude, Boyle leaves us with these words of wisdom: “No kinship, no justice. No kinship, no peace. If there is no undergirding kinship, if we believe that we don’t belong to each other, justice won’t happen.”
Watch Fr. Boyle's complete presentation

California’s adoption of a new funding system for our schools places us on the cusp of the biggest change to public school financing in a generation. This funding system, called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), promises that the most vulnerable students in California will finally get a more equal chance at a good education.
Overall funding for K-12 schools is woefully inadequate, resulting in too few basic services and opportunities in all too many schools. More than half of California’s schoolchildren come from low-income families. Nearly a quarter of the state’s students speak a language other than English at home.
State officials, including Governor Brown, recognize that fixing the problem of inadequate funding to meet educational needs is a civil rights issue. When kids aren’t given a decent chance at a good education because of structural inequities, we fail them and ourselves. Both our future economic prosperity and our democracy are threatened.
As Governor Brown declared in his State of the State speech in January, “Equal treatment for children in unequal situations is not justice.”
Students with greater needs deserve and require additional support. We must level the playing field up to ensure that disadvantaged students are given equal opportunity to accomplish their dreams.
School districts with higher numbers of English Learners, low-income students and foster youth will have more money to provide that support to their students under the LCFF.

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Three steps parents and community members can take right now to help their schools make the most of the new funding and improve education for all students:
1. Make your voice heard locally: School boards are in the process of finalizing their budgets for this school year. Ask administrators and board members how they are planning to increase or improve services for low-income and English Learner students and foster youth, as required by the LCFF. Ask how they plan to involve parents in making decisions for the school district and individual schools.
2. Share your top priorities and concerns with the State Board of Education: The California State Board of Education is currently developing rules for how the new funding for disadvantaged children can be spent and how schools should go about planning and budgeting to foster greater student achievement. They are hosting regional “input sessions” that provide all community members an opportunity to be heard on these subjects. For locations and times, visit the California State Board of Education's website.
3. Learn and advocate: The LCFF is intended to provide greater discretion to local communities to determine how to best meet the educational needs of their children. For this to work, parents, teachers, administrators and board members need to be engaged in meaningful conversations about goals and strategies and allocations of resources to implement them. Stay tuned as the State develops the LCFF rules (e.g., California State Board of Education - "July 2013 Agenda," 97kb) and help your schools use the new funds and discretion wisely.
Brooks Allen is Director of Education Advocacy at the ACLU of Southern California