The competition, which took place March 17 and March 18, focused on mediation advocacy, requiring the competitors to undergo mock mediation sessions where one party served as a client and the other as the attorney needing to advocate the client’s interests.

On March 17, Hoffman and Wihnyk competed against two teams from the University of Memphis: Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and West Virginia University College of Law, respectively.

With positive feedback and high scores issued by practicing mediators from the area, Hoffman and Wihnyk advanced to the final round the following day, surpassing ten other teams from across the South.

“I really felt that the vagueness of the fact patterns and the strong competitors put our skills to the test, and made for a challenging competition,” Wihnyk said. “I was incredibly proud and satisfied with how we, as a team, competed, and were able to overcome the numerous obstacles that a start-up organization faces to make it to the finals in only our third competition.”

In the final round, Hoffman and Wihnyk mediated against the second team brought by the University of Memphis.

“We were pleasantly surprised when it was announced that we would be competing in the finals,” Hoffman explained, “but it all came full circle when we realized that the other team had an advantage — having teammates who had competed against us and a coach who had observed the entire mediation. We knew that we would need to develop a strategy whereby we acted in the roles those team members had not observed us in.”

Though the team did not win the final round, Hoffman and Wihnyk felt validation for their preparation after hearing the judges explain that the scores were incredibly close, and commend them on their performance.

“In the end, it was the first time the UF ADR team advanced to the finals of any competition,” UF ADR President, Jennilyn Thiboult said, “we are incredibly pleased with the results, proud of our team and looked forward to future competitions.”

3Ls Christina Vilaseca, left, and Amy Levenberg, showed their support for equality at OUTLaw's Marry-In event Tuesday. Max Wihynk (2L) acted as officiator. (Photo by Maggie Powers)

By Maggie Powers

OUTLaw, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Gay-Straight Alliance group, held its third annual Marry-In event in the Marcia Whitney Schott Courtyard Tuesday.

The event aimed to bring awareness to marriage inequality by holding symbolic marriage ceremonies between people who wanted to show support.

The event welcomed anyone to marry, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, said OUTLaw President Max Wihnyk (2L), and took place from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. with the “marriage” of seven couples. Wihnyk acted as officiator and participants exchanged Ring Pops and Hersey’s Kisses as representations of traditional wedding tokens.

Wihnyk said he thinks the traditions of the legal community influence professionals’ ability to openly be part of the LGBT community. As an openly gay man, he said he wants to work at a place where he can be himself. He emphasized the importance of addressing the imbalance of rights immediately.

“We need to make sure that the issue of equality is getting raised here-and-now when we’re learning the law and ethics of being an attorney or representing somebody,” he said. “It’s important to get that down now.”

Best friends and 3Ls Christina Vilaseca and Amy Levenberg symbolically married each other to express their distaste for martial inequality. Both women are straight and they believe that members of the LGBT community should have the same martial rights that they enjoy. The two have participated in the event every year since its beginning.

“It is a deprivation of rights, and our country is founded on upholding those rights,” Vilaseca said. “It’s really frustrating.”

Levenberg had similar sentiments.

“I think it’s a disgrace that our political system treats certain people as inferior,” she said.

The second-year UF Law student didn’t have big goals. He pleaded for the basics.

And while Wihnyk lives in a state where he can be fired from his job or evicted from his home just for being gay, the basics are all he’s got.

“It was definitely weird going into the office of a senator and telling him or her that these were basic human rights,” said Wihnyk, president of OUTLaw, UF Law’s LGBT advocacy group.

Wihnyk traveled to Tallahassee Feb. 6 with OUTLaw secretary Kathryn Brightbill (1L) to participate in Equality Florida’s Lobby Days 2012. The two-day event brings together members of Florida’s LGBTQ community with state legislators to discuss proposed bills.

Most of these bills fight for basic human rights. And most of these bills have to be lobbied, fought and pleaded for.

“I think the general population doesn’t know you can be denied housing for being gay or be fired for being gay,” Brightbill said. “Without making our legislators aware of this problem, it’s not going to move forward.”

Brightbill joined Wihnyk for his second Lobby Days at the state capital to fight for two proposed bills in particular: the Domestic Partnership Act and the Florida Competitive Workforce Act.

The Domestic Partnership Act would create basic legal protections for unmarried, cohabitating couples regardless of sexual orientation.

“It doesn’t give nearly the amount of benefits marriage gives. It would give the very basic benefits,” Wihnyk said.

Among those marriage benefits Wihnyk lists that he’s currently denied in Florida: automatic inheritance rights, a right to make spousal health care or child care decisions, the ability to file joint tax returns, obtaining insurance through a spouse and receiving Medicare or Social Security benefits of a spouse.

So Wihnyk lobbied for the basics.

He lobbied for the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, a bill that would make it illegal in Florida to fire an employee based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“All we need is a few courageous senators, and it’ll happen,” Wihnyk said. “I hate to say courageous, but it’s true. A lot of senators don’t want to touch these things.”

And while Wihnyk’s busy lobbying for what many take for granted, light for the Sunshine State is glowing out West.

In a double dose of victories for Wihnyk and the LGBTQ community Feb. 8, Washington state legislators voted to approve same-sex marriage while the 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative defining marriage strictly as a union between one man and one woman, to be unconstitutional.

That’s good news for Florida, Wihnyk said. That’s good news for getting more than just the basics.

While more than 62 percent of Florida voters decided in 2008 to amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, Wihnyk points to the legal limbo of California’s Proposition 8.

For now, the uncertainty of how far his basic human rights stretch is good news for Wihnyk. Ultimately, the United States Supreme Court, Wihnyk said, will decide the fate of California’s marriage amendment. That ruling will affect more than California – it will untangle the nation’s messy marriage web, and it will define how we define ourselves.

But for now, Wihnyk holds on to the basics. It’s all he has.

“It’s the small things (that matter),” he said.