Lois Perrin
From dKosopedia
Lois Perrin, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. [1]
Contents |
Education
- earned two bachelor's degrees, in political science and in judicial studies, magna cum laude, Arizona State University, 1992.
- University of Southern California law school, she worked for the law review and as a research assistant on mental health, family law and gender bias issues. [2]
Employment
- clerk for U.S. District Judge Alan C. Kay, 1997.
- corporate litigator, Morrison & Foerster.
- assigned to a class-action suit with ACLU against the state of California on behalf of public-school students in poorer districts. [3]
Pittsburg to Hawai'i
In the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jim Borg writes in a February 4, 2007 article:
- Perrin's spirited defense of Hawaii's downtrodden has brought her a long way from Pittsburgh, where she spent her childhood with a "Jewish doctor" dad and Korean-American mom. (She remains a "rabid" Steelers fan.) The family took several vacations to Maui and Perrin confesses she "fell in love" with the islands during those trips.
- "For my mom, being Korean, there was a lot of cultural diversity here that was lacking in Pittsburgh," Perrin said. "And so she felt pretty comfortable coming to a predominantly Asian vacation spot. We came out probably six or seven times." [4]
Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility
Jim Borg, in the same article, reports of Perrin's involvement in the legal action against discrimination and abuse at the facility:
- Tears rolled from the girl's dark eyes as she sat with her lawyer at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility.
- With unchecked emotion, R.G. described her ordeal as a lesbian at the prison for teens.
- The staff and other prisoners or "wards" routinely called her Butchie or Dyke, as if that were her name.
- "She was told being gay was not of God, that she was going to hell, by staff members," recalled Lois Perrin, the teen's attorney. "She was also told that it was her choice, that she could change who she was, which, of course, is completely at odds with all the studies that I have seen. It was a fairly active campaign against this particular kid. It was really almost daily abuse for a period of months."
- That abuse ended last year when a federal judge in Honolulu ordered the state to halt its discrimination against and harassment of incarcerated youths who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered. Last June, the state settled the case, agreeing to pay $625,000 to the ACLU and its three plaintiffs, including R.G.
- And while the atmosphere at the youth facility in Kailua remains far from perfect, Perrin counts that victory among the most satisfying in her tenure as legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. [5]
External links
- American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i
- Borg, Jim. ACLU lawyer tackles state's ugly sides -- Lois Perrin is at the epicenter of Hawaii's civil rights battles Honolulu Star-Bulletin, February 4, 2007.
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