Press Release

(Annapolis, MD June 27, 2012) - Lambda Legal sent letters today to the leaders of 20 Maryland counties asking for confirmation that it is county policy to recognize out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples, including for purposes of county employee spousal benefits.

(New York, June 27, 2012) - In a demand letter released today, Lambda Legal urged DSA Management, Inc., a New York City-based management company, and Nicholas Place LLC, the building owner, to add the wife of lesbian tenant, Regina Hawkins-Balducci, to her rent-stabilized lease in accordance with State and City law.

(New York, June 25, 2012) - In a mixed ruling, the Supreme Court today struck down key parts of SB 1070, Arizona's draconian anti-immigrant law. The nation’s leading organizations advocating on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population and people living with HIV/AIDS responded to the ruling and expressed support for comprehensive immigration reform that includes LGBT people and their families.

(New York, June 13, 2012) —Lambda Legal client Liza Friedlander, who was violently attacked while trying to dine with friends at a Forest Hills restaurant owned by Defendant Waroge Met, Ltd., doing business as Sizzler Restaurant 0489, recently recovered $25,000 in a lawsuit filed in Queens County in 2011. The court entered a judgment against the defendant Sizzler Restaurant 0489 and its manager, defendant Edgar Orellana, after those defendants offered to allow judgment to be taken against them.    

(New York, June 15, 2012) - After the announcement that the U.S. will stop deportation proceedings for many undocumented youth Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, Lambda Legal Staff Attorney:

(Des Moines, IA, June 14, 2012) - Today Lambda Legal filed an appeal on a petition for post-conviction relief in the Iowa Supreme Court on behalf of an HIV-positive Iowa man, Nick Rhoades. Rhoades was sentenced to 25 years in prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender after having a one-time sexual encounter with another man during which they used a condom.

(Baltimore, MD June 13, 2012) - Today, Lambda Legal announced that, beginning in July, Washington County will extend spousal benefits to all eligible county employees married to a same-sex spouse. The County's decision comes on the heels of a complaint filed by Lambda Legal on behalf of William Taylor, a county librarian who had been denied benefits for his husband, who he had married in Washington, DC, and by a Maryland Court of Appeals ruling that such marriages are entitled to legal respect.

(New York, June 12, 2012) - Today, the New York Court of Appeals issued a ruling that the New York Human Rights Law does not protect students against harassment and discrimination in public schools. As a result, the nearly 90 percent of all New York students who attend public schools are now denied access to that law's comprehensive protections.

(New York, June 7, 2012) — Today, New York Court of Appeals dismissed an aggravated assault conviction based on HIV status and remitted the case back to Herkimer County Court for resentencing.

(New York, June 7, 2012) - Today, New York Court of Appeals dismissed an aggravated assault conviction based on HIV status and remitted the case back to Herkimer County Court for resentencing.