Press Release

(Baton Rouge, LA, February 25, 2014) – BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana (BCBS) and two other Louisiana insurers will continue to accept federally-funded third party premium funds for the time being as Lambda Legal’s lawsuit against the insurance companies progresses through the courts.

(New York, February 24, 2014) — Today, after months of advocacy, Lambda Legal announced the Social Security Administration (SSA) paid Robina Asti, a 92-year-old transgender woman, the survivor benefits she was denied after her husband’s death.

(Chicago, IL, February 21, 2014) — A federal court today ordered the Cook County Clerk’s office to provide marriage licenses immediately to same-sex couples seeking the freedom to marry, rather than require them to wait until June, the default implementation date for the marriage equality bill passed by the Illinois legislature last year.

(New Orleans, LA, February 20, 2014) – Lambda Legal today filed a federal class action discrimination lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana (BCBS), which will no longer accept the federally-funded premium subsidies that enable low-income Louisianans living with HIV to purchase health insurance.

(New Orleans, LA, February 13, 2014) – Lambda Legal announced today that it has filed administrative complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights against two additional Louisiana health insurers who are adopting BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana's (BCBS's) approach and are no longer accepting federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) third-party premium subsidies for low-income Louisianans living with HIV.

(Las Vegas, February 12, 2014) – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today granted Lambda Legal's request to expedite the hearing of Sevcik v. Sandoval, its lawsuit challenging Nevada's discriminatory marriage ban.

(Chicago, IL, February 11, 2014) — Ron Dorfman, veteran Chicago journalist and activist, died yesterday in his home from heart failure. Mr. Dorfman and his husband Ken Ilio were married on December 13, 2013 after Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Illinois filed a lawsuit on their behalf seeking immediate issuance of marriage licenses for Illinois same-sex couples where one partner has a terminal illness.

(Las Vegas, February 10, 2014) – Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval today sought leave to withdraw the brief submitted on his behalf by Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit defending the state’s discriminatory marriage ban in Lambda Legal’s lawsuit challenging the ban, Sevcik v. Sandoval.

(New Orleans, LA, February 10, 2014) - Lambda Legal announced today that it has filed an administrative complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights against BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana (BCBS) after the state's largest insurer stopped accepting federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) third-party premium subsidies for low-income Louisianans living with HIV.

(San Francisco, CA, February 4, 2013) –Lambda Legal, representing twelve regional and national organizations working with LGBT youth, filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today urging the court to uphold the California law prohibiting state-licensed mental health providers from using dangerous efforts to change sexual orientation – sometimes referred to as "ex-gay therapy" – with minors.