‘Harvard Law Review’ elects first openly gay president

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Mitchell Reich, a second year Harvard law student, has been elected the first openly gay president of the Harvard Law Review, a journal of legal scholarship published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School.

Reich, a Yale College and Dalton School graduate and Manhattan native, is the 125th president of the publication.

The Harvard Crimson reports:

Reich says that being gay is a non-issue for the Harvard Law Review community, but that he recognizes the significance of the election. He says that while he was in high school, before coming out of the closet, he found it hard to picture achieving his dreams and be gay at the same time.

Reich’s older brother, Ryan, said that while his brother is certainly an advocate for gay rights, his sexual orientation is “not a cause” for the second year law student.

“He does certainly have a certain affinity for gay rights issues,” said Ryan Reich. “But I think, first, that this is part of a larger affinity for liberal thought.”

As president, Reich will serve as editor-in-chief — overseeing the publication of both in-house and scholarly articles in the review.

The Harvard Law Review published its first issue on April 15, 1887, and is the oldest operating student-edited law review in the United States.

President Barack Obama served as the first African American President of the Review in 1990.

source