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Mary C. Dunlap

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This article is about the American civil rights lawyer. For the American veterinarian, see Mary Knight Dunlap.
Mary C. Dunlap
BornMay 25, 1948
Napa, California
DiedJanuary 17, 2003(2003-01-17) (aged 54)
OccupationLawyer

Mary Cynthia Dunlap (May 25, 1948 – January 17, 2003) was an American civil rights lawyer based in San Francisco, California. She directed San Francisco's Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC).

Early life and education

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Dunlap was born in Napa, California, the daughter of Frank Leslie Dunlap and Betty Marion McBean Dunlap. Her father was a lawyer. She attended Napa High School, earned a bachelor's degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1968,[1] and completed a Juris Doctor degree at UC Berkeley School of Law in 1971.[2] In law school, she and other students founded the Boalt Hall Women's Association, and took over a restroom for the association's office.[3]

Career

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In 1973, Dunlap co-founded of a non-profit law firm specializing in sex discrimination law, Equal Rights Advocates, with Wendy Webster Williams and Nancy Davis.[3][4] In 1976 she debated Phyllis Schlafly on the Equal Rights Amendment at Mills College.[5] In 1977, she represented a pregnant teacher forced to take maternity leave in Berg v. Richmond Unified School District.[6] In 1984, she represented women in a class-action suit against laundries for discriminatory price differences between services for men's and women's clothing, saying "ring-around-the-collar ought to cost the same to remove, whether a man or a woman put it there".[7] In 1987, she represented the Gay Games before the Supreme Court, in San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee.[8][9] In 1989, she represented Eleanor Swift in her lawsuit against Boalt Hall over tenure. She supported Black firefighters in a civil rights challenge to the San Francisco Fire Department's hiring practices.[10] She was involved in the early work of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.[10]

Dunlap was appointed director of San Francisco's Office of Citizen Complaints in 1996.[11] In that role, she oversaw the office that investigated complaints against city police officers.[12] She taught at the Hastings College of Law, Golden Gate University, Stanford University, and the University of San Francisco School of Law.[13]

Publications

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  • "The Equal Rights Amendment and the Courts" (1975)[14]
  • "The Constitutional Rights of Sexual Minorities: A Crisis of the Male/Female Dichotomy" (1978)[15]
  • "Attorneys' Fees against Government Defendants; Economics Requires a New Proposal" (1979)[16]
  • "Harris v. McRae" (1979)
  • "Toward Recognition of A Right to Be Sexual" (1981)[17]
  • "Feminist Discourse, Moral Values, and the Law—A Conversation" (1985, with Ellen C. DuBois, Carol Gilligan, Catharine A. MacKinnon, and Carrie Menkel-Meadow)[18]
  • "Sexual Speech and the State: Putting Pornography in Its Place" (1987)[19]
  • "The F Word: Mainstreaming and Marginalizing Feminism" (1988)[20]
  • "AIDS and Discrimination in the United States: Reflections on the Nature of Prejudice in a Virus" (1989)[21]
  • "The Lesbian and Gay Marriage Debate: A Microcosm of Our Hopes and Troubles in the Nineties" (1991)[22]
  • "Are We Integrated Yet? Pursuing the Complex Question of Values, Demographics and Personalities" (1994)[23]
  • "Gay Men and Lesbians down by Law in the 1990's USA: The Continuing Toll of Bowers v. Hardwick " (1994)[24]

Dunlap also wrote and published her poetry.[3][25] Andrew Sullivan included one of her poems in his Same-Sex Marriage, Pro and Con: A Reader (1997).[26]

Personal life and legacy

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Dunlap was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2001, and kept an online journal of her treatment and experiences; she died in 2003, at the age of 54, survived by her partner of almost 18 years, Maureen Mason.[13][10] In 2004, the Berkeley Women's Law Journal dedicated a special issue to tributes to Dunlap.[1][3] In 2005, the first Mary Dunlap Fellowships were awarded at Berkeley, and the first Mary C. Dunlap Memorial Lecture on Sex, Gender & Social Justice was held. Her work with the Gay Games is featured in the documentary Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial (2009).[27]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Mary C. Dunlap". N.Y.U. Review of Law & Social Change. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  2. ^ Kay, Herma Hill (January 31, 2004). "Remembering Mary Dunlap as a Student". Berkeley Women's Law Journal. 19 (1): 3 – via ProQuest.
  3. ^ a b c d Williams, Wendy Webster (2004). "The Gifts of Mary Dunlap (1949–2003)". Berkeley Women's Law Journal. 19 (1): 12–16.
  4. ^ "Mary Dunlap to Participate in Legal Education Program". The Napa Valley Register. August 6, 1974. p. 10. Retrieved June 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Phyllis Schlafly and Mary Dunlap debate the Equal Rights Amendment at..." Getty Images. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  6. ^ "Berg v. Richmond Unified School Dist, 528 F.2d 1208". Casetext. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  7. ^ "Women Sue Laundry, Charge Unfair Pricing". The Times Leader. September 26, 1984. p. 10. Retrieved June 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee (1987); Oyez.
  9. ^ Laird, Cynthia (January 23, 2003). "Dunlap Memorial Feb. 15". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved June 7, 2022 – via GLBT Historical Society, Online Searchable Obituary Database.
  10. ^ a b c Laird, Cynthia. "OCC Chief Mary Dunlap Dies" Bay Area Reporter (January 23, 2003), via GLBT Historical Society's Online Searchable Obituary Database.
  11. ^ "Gay rights advocate Mary Dunlap dies (7549)". Advocate. January 23, 2003. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  12. ^ "Shielded from Justice: San Francisco: Office of Citizen Complaints". Human Rights Watch. June 1998. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Lee, Henry K. (January 22, 2003). "Mary Dunlap – S.F. police watchdog, rights advocate". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  14. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1975–1976). "The Equal Rights Amendment and the Courts". Pepperdine Law Review. 3: 42.
  15. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1978–1979). "The Constitutional Rights of Sexual Minorities: A Crisis of the Male/Female Dichotomy". Hastings Law Journal. 30: 1131.
  16. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1979–1980). "Attorneys' Fees against Government Defendants Economics Requires a New Proposal". Western New England Law Review. 2: 311.
  17. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1981–1982). "Toward Recognition of A Right to Be Sexual". Women's Rights Law Reporter. 7: 245.
  18. ^ Dubois, Ellen C.; Dunlap, Mary C.; Gilligan, Carol J.; MacKinnon, Catharine A.; Menkel-Meadow, Carrie J. (1985). "Feminist Discourse, Moral Values, and the Law—A Conversation". Buffalo Law Review. 34: 11.
  19. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1987). "Sexual Speech and the State: Putting Pornography in Its Place". Golden Gate University Law Review. 17: 359.
  20. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1988–1990). "The F Word: Mainstreaming and Marginalizing Feminism". Berkeley Women's Law Journal. 4: 251.
  21. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1989). "AIDS and Discrimination in the United States: Reflections on the Nature of Prejudice in a Virus". Villanova Law Review. 34: 909.
  22. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1991). "The Lesbian and Gay Marriage Debate: A Microcosm of Our Hopes and Troubles in the Nineties". Law & Sexuality: A Review of Lesbian and Gay Legal Issues. 1: 63.
  23. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1994–1995). "Are We Integrated Yet – Pursuing the Complex Question of Values, Demographics and Personalities". University of San Francisco Law Review. 29: 693.
  24. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (1994). "Gay Men and Lesbians down by Law in the 1990's USA: The Continuing Toll of Bowers v. Hardwick". Golden Gate University Law Review. 24: 1.
  25. ^ Dunlap, Mary C. (2004). "Choosing to Empathize (1991)". Berkeley Women's Law Journal. 19: 17.
  26. ^ Hazlett, Melissa A. (October 5, 1997). "Yes and No to Same-Sex Marriage". Tampa Bay Times. p. 60. Retrieved June 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial". WXXI. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
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