Nancy D. Polikoff (born 1952) is an American law professor, LGBT rights activist, and author. She is a professor emerita at Washington College of Law. Polikoff's work focuses on LGBT rights, family law, and gender identity issues. She authored '' Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families under the Law'' (2008).

Education

Polikoff completed a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972. She earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1975. In 1976, Polikoff was a co-author of one of the first law review articles about the custody rights of

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

mothers. In 1980, she completed a Master of Arts in women's studies from George Washington University.

Career

From 1975 to 1976, Polikoff was an instructor at

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univ ...

Columbus School of Law. She was an attorney and founding partner at Hunter, Polikoff, Bodley & Bottum, P.C. Washington D.C. Feminist Law Collective from 1976 to 1981. Polikoff was a staff attorney for the

Women's Legal Defense Fund The National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)3 organization based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1971, the National Partnership works on public policies, education and outreach that focuses on women and familie ...

from 1982 to 1987. She joined the faculty at Washington College of Law as an assistant professor in 1987. She helped coordinate the representation for protesters arrested at the United States Supreme Court Building in October 1987 for

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

in protest of the '' Bowers v. Hardwick'' ruling''.'' She worked as an associate professor from 1990 to 1993 before becoming a full professor. She was the

James E. Rogers College of Law University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law is the law school at the University of Arizona located in Tucson, Arizona and was the first law school founded in the State of Arizona, opening its doors in 1915. Also known as University of Ar ...

visiting professor at University of Arizona Law School from 2004 to 2005. She was the UCLA School of Law visiting McDonald/Wright Chair of Law and the faculty chair of the Williams Institute from the fall of 2011 to fall of 2012. Polikoff was a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center the spring of 2015. Polikoff was the chair of the Association of American Law Schools section on sexual orientation and gender identity issues. She is a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council of the

National Center for Lesbian Rights The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is a non-profit, public interest law firm in the United States that advocates for equitable public policies affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, provides free legal ...

. , Polikoff is a professor emerita at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Washington College of Law. Her work focuses on LGBT issues and same-sex parenting law. She is a contributing blogger to the Bilerico Project and Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage.

Awards

Polikoff was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award Best LGBT Non-Fiction in 2009 for her book, ''

Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage ''Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families under the Law'' is a 2008 book about family law reform by the legal scholar Nancy D. Polikoff. Publication history ''Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage'' was first published in 2008 by ...

''. She received the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance Distinguished Service Award in 2009. She received the

National LGBT Bar Association The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, formerly the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association and the National LGBT Bar Association, is a national association of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals, law students, activists, and affiliated ...

Dan Bradley award in 2011.

Personal life

Polikoff's father was lawyer Harry Polikoff. She is a

and was married to filmmaker Cheryl Swannack until March 15, 2020, when Swannack died due to Parkinson's disease.

Selected works

Books

* Reviews of ''Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage'': * * * * * * *

Journal articles

* * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Polikoff, Nancy Living people 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women writers Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni American LGBT rights activists University of Pennsylvania alumni Washington College of Law faculty American women legal scholars American legal scholars American lesbian writers LGBT lawyers Lesbian academics 1952 births American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers George Washington University alumni Columbus School of Law faculty LGBT educators