Chris Brecht (J.D. ’09) and Michael Smith (J.D. ’91) are out and proud – and married to each other. They want University of Tulsa law students who are members of the LGBTQ+ community to be open and honest about who they are, too, especially with law firms.
The two alumni spoke Oct. 10 at UTulsa’s College of Law in honor of Pride Week.
“I would encourage you to be as comfortable as you are with being open and honest about that with your employers and the firms that you’re applying to,” Brecht said. “Even practicing here in Oklahoma, you don’t have to be in the closet to have an amazing career.”
Brecht was involved with the issuance of the first gender nonbinary birth certificate in the state of Oklahoma through the federal lawsuit Lorelied v. Frye. Both Brecht and Smith were honored for their work in Schnedler v. Lee, a groundbreaking case before the Oklahoma Supreme Court that involved a same-sex couple. The court found that a nonbiological parent in a same-sex relationship stands in parity with a biological parent.
Smith recalled when he was president of Oklahomans for Equality and invited U.S. Senior District Judge Terence Kern to the annual gala. Kern had recently struck down Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage.
Smith said at the gala, Kern received a long standing ovation, and his daughter came up to Smith and said: “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen my dad cry – that moment when he was honored.”
Brecht ended the discussion by summing up what the LGBTQ+ community seeks.
“Trans people are just people. Gay people are just people. Queer people are literally just people, trying to live their lives in peace,” he said. “We want the same things for our families: We want to have families. We want to go to work. We want to live our lives just the same, like nobody’s asking (about our business). I say this all the time to people, ‘Nobody in this community is asking for anything more than anybody else has.’”
Both Brecht and Smith are out and proud attorneys at Smolen Law and handle plaintiffs’ cases involving civil rights, insurance bad faith, products liability, and other tort matters.
The event was sponsored by the College of Law’s Diversity Committee and the OutLaws student organization. OutLaws aims to educate people in the College of Law on LGBTQ+ legal and social issues as well as to provide an open, inclusive and safe space for students to express themselves.