In the News

2/1/2011

"Iowans' deep and divided emotions over marriage rights spilled out onto the House floor Monday night, the eve of a House vote on a resolution to begin the process to amend the state's constitution to ban same-sex marriage."

Watch Lambda Legal plaintiffs Jen and Dawn BarbouRoske speak in the video below:

1/28/2011

"Lambda Legal has reached a settlement with the Gary, Ind., school district, in the case of a transgender student who was barred from attending prom in a dress in 2006, and the district has adopted LGBT-inclusive policies as part of it.

"K.K. Logan, who at the time identified as a feminine male and now identifies as female, was physically blocked by the school principal from entering the West Side High School senior prom in May 2006.

1/18/2011

"The question of whether Louisiana must put both parents' names on birth certificates of children adopted by gay couples goes before 16 federal appeals court judges on Wednesday.

"Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith of San Diego want the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a unanimous three-judge ruling and a district judge's decision that both of their names must go on their son's birth certificate.

1/9/2011

"The legal battle over same-sex marriage in California pivoted back last week to the state Supreme Court to answer a legal question that will affect not only gays and lesbians who want to marry.

"The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order Tuesday asking the state high court to decide if state law allows proponents of a proposition to defend it in court when state officials refuse that role.

1/10/2011

"The Texas attorney general can't block a divorce granted to two women who were legally married elsewhere, an appeals court ruled Friday.

"...Unlike the Dallas case, the Austin case did not examine whether the judge had jurisdiction to grant the divorce. Ken Upton, a staff attorney for Lambda Legal, a national legal organization that promotes equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, noted the Austin appeals court decision was in fact quite narrow.

12/28/2010

"The North Carolina Supreme Court on December 20 voided the adoption by a lesbian mother of the child who she and her former partner, the biological mother, were raising together. The ruling jeopardizes the legality of all other such 'second-parent adoptions' in the state.

Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, agreed the status of the other adoptions remains unclear at this point, but 'at a minimum, [the ruling] is causing a lot of anxiety.'"

December 18 was an historic day: The Senate finally followed the House to repeal the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law. On this vote, Congress lived up to the values that lesbian, gay and bisexual servicemembers swore to defend.

"A federal judge approved a legal settlement Wednesday requiring that Atlanta pay more than $1 million to people illegally detained during a raid on a gay bar, change police department policy and investigate the conduct of its officers.

"...Greg Nevins, an attorney in Lambda Legal's southern regional office, praised the plaintiffs in the case for stepping forward. The settlement effectively ends the lawsuit.

Christopher Clark, senior staff attorney in the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal, a national gay and lesbian civil rights organization, said the new law will benefit many couples who couldn't afford the costs of proper estate planning.

"Very often heterosexual couples go and put financial documents in place, but absent that, they have certain presumptions under the law if they haven't done that," Clark said. "But same-sex couples had no rights like that. It's an expensive process, and many can't afford it."

"Today is the 22nd anniversary of World AIDS Day, and Robert Franke, 77, can attest that the stigma attached to AIDS and HIV remains strong.

"A retired college provost and former minister confronting a host of medical problems, Franke moved from Michigan to Little Rock, Ark., in 2009 to be closer to his daughter, Sara Bowling.