In the News

4/29/2007

"While the state Senate remains focused on adopting a new death-penalty law, Gov. Eliot Spitzer last week filed bills on issues ranging from gay marriage to court reorganization, redistricting and abortion rights.

"... Spitzer has proposed that New York become the second state, after Massachusetts, to legalize the unions.

"'It is high time that New York values all families who choose to call New York home by passing this bill,' said Susan Sommer of Lambda Legal, an advocacy group."

5/16/2007

"The marriages of more than 170 gay couples from New York who wed in Massachusetts before last July are valid because New York had not yet explicitly banned same-sex marriages, a Massachusetts judge ruled.

"Susan Sommer, senior counsel for Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization, said New York common law has held that as long as a marriage is valid where it is performed, it will be respected in New York.

3/20/2007

"Monday's test of student speech rights arises as schools face increased violence and drug use on their grounds. The National School Boards Association, siding with Juneau officials, says administrators should have expansive latitude to stop messages related to subjects such as drugs, guns, homosexuality and abortion.

"On Frederick's side are an unusual contingent of liberal groups, including the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, and conservatives, including the Alliance Defense Fund ? all worried that credible student views will be censored."

4/3/2007

"Gay-marriage advocates filed their opening briefs Monday with California's Supreme Court, firing the first salvo in the final battle over whether the state's statutory ban passes constitutional muster.

3/20/2007

"Preliminary figures released on Tuesday show that 229 same-sex couples applied for civil union licenses in New Jersey in the first month since they became available, far fewer than the 1,700 who registered as domestic partners in the state within that option's first month in 2004...

"... David S. Buckel, Senior Counsel at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said [he was] aware of more than 20 couples who had obtained civil unions but said they were nonetheless denied rights afforded to married couples."

3/13/2007

"In a newspaper interview Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had likened homosexuality to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces.

"Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Jennifer C. Pizer responded to his comments on the Today Show.

Watch the clip on msn.com

3/21/2007

"Gay Illinois couples would be allowed to enter civil unions with the same legal rights as marriage under legislation approved Wednesday by an Illinois House committee.

"'Illinois views same-sex couples, some together for decades, as strangers under the law,' said Jim Bennett, Lambda Legal's Midwest Regional Director."

Read more on gaylesbiantimes.com

2/19/2007

"New Jersey will become the third state with civil unions for gay couples today as a law passed last year under pressure from the state Supreme Court takes effect.

5/52007

"An attorney representing six gay and lesbian couples argued Friday afternoon that the state's ban on gay marriage is not simply a rhetorical debate surrounding right and wrong, but an urgent issue that affects the lives of longtime couples who cannot marry.

"'This is not a hypothetical issue ? these are real people,' said Des Moines attorney Dennis Johnson, who represents the 12 clients from Iowa and three of their children. 'These people are here because the state treats them like second-class citizens.'

2/19/2007

"New Jersey will become the third state with civil unions for gay couples today as a law passed last year under pressure from the state Supreme Court takes effect.