Domestic Partnership

• (In English)

(New York, March 12, 2007) -- Lambda Legal announces today that the Supreme Court of New York, Westchester County has held that County Executive Spano is adhering to New York law in respecting out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples living in Westchester County.

(Chicago, February 20, 2007) -- Lambda Legal lauds today's United States Supreme Court refusal to hear a case brought by an Illinois antigay group that attempted to put a statewide advisory referendum opposing marriage and relationship rights for same-sex couples on the November ballot but lacked an adequate number of signatures.

(NEW YORK, April 9, 2002) - Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin M. Cathcart offers a view from the courthouse for Pridefest’s National Gay & Lesbian Leaders Symposium.

From assisting partners of lesbian and gay victims of September 11, to securing protections against anti-gay abuse in the schools, Cathcart will highlight how Lambda Legal ’s advocacy advances civil rights for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, the transgendered, and people with HIV and AIDS.

Patient, who had AIDS, died without being able to say goodbye to partner. Partner denied opportunity to tell hospital about patient's treatment wishes Shock Trauma Center violated national hospital accreditation standards classifying partner as family. There was even a health care power of attorney designating relationship between the men. Case shows importance of legalizing same-sex marriage, says Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed today's suit.

(NEW YORK, Monday, February 11, 2002) — Linking Valentine’s Day and Lincoln’s birthday with the themes of love and equality, Lambda Legal and communities nationwide, including many clergy, are supporting lesbian and gay couples with celebrations of the fifth annual National Freedom to Marry Day.

On Tuesday, February 12, diverse communities from California to Maine will gather for events that call for an end to discrimination against lesbian and gay couples, who are unfairly barred from civil marriage in all 50 states.

(LOS ANGELES, Monday, October 15, 2001) — Governor Gray Davis has signed a bill into law that will offer dramatic new protections for domestic partners in California, even while falling short of full equality for lesbian and gay couples, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said.

(NEW YORK) — Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups, individuals, and friends will join together to remember and honor victims and their families and the many others affected by the tragedy of September 11.

(LOS ANGELES, August 24, 2001) -- More families remain eligible for health insurance and other vital employment benefits thanks to a court ruling in Olympia, Washington, the latest in a long line of decisions across the country supporting domestic partner benefits for government workers, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Friday.

Vancouver has provided domestic partner benefits for the dependents of its unmarried workers since 1998, but the program was threatened by a lawsuit brought with the help of a right-wing legal group.

(LOS ANGELES, June 14, 2001) — In a unanimous decision that Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said could help advance domestic partner benefits around the country, a federal appeals court on Thursday upheld key parts of San Francisco’s landmark Equal Benefits Ordinance that requires city contractors to extend benefits to their unmarried employees.

(LOS ANGELES, May 29, 2001) — Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is urging the Washington Supreme Court to reject a conservative taxpayer’s assault on Vancouver’s domestic partner benefits plan, and to leave in place the city’s family benefits plan for unmarried city employees.

On Thursday, May 31, the Washington Supreme Court will hear argument in Heinsma v. City of Vancouver; afterwards Senior Staff Attorney Jennifer C. Pizer of Lambda’s Western Regional Office will be available for comment.