"They just didn't want us to marry," she said. "So now we're just going to legislate everything else."

The Harvard Connection

Kuehl's Harvard connections go back more than two decades.

She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1978--the year she organized an event called "Celebration 25," commemorating the 25th anniversary of 13 female students becoming the first women to graduate from the law school.

The Celebration event has been held every five years since, except in 1983, and the last event attracted about 500 law school alumni. Kuehl will chair "Celebration 50" in 2003.

Members of Harvard's Gay and Lesbian Caucus actively campaigned for Kuehl's election to the Board of Overseers, and Robert W. Mack '71, former co-chair of the caucus, said the group "alerted its members" to Kuehl's candidacy this year.

After graduating from the law school, Kuehl was a law professor at Loyola, the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Southern California.

She founded the California Women's Law Center in 1989, which allowed her to appear before legislative committees to urge stronger laws on domestic abuse, sparking her governmental interest.