Press Release

(New York, April 25, 2012) - Lambda Legal has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the New York Court of Appeals urging the Court to drop the aggravated assault charge leveled at a criminal defendant based on his HIV status.

"The last time I checked, being HIV-positive is not a crime," said Scott Schoettes, HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal. "And a person should not face criminal punishment - or, as in this case, significantly enhanced penalties - simply because he or she happens to be living with HIV."  

(Chicago, IL, April 20, 2012)— Today in celebration of GLSEN’s National Day of Silence, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Christopher Clark, Senior Staff Attorney for Lambda Legal. On April 3, Clark filed suit on behalf of Maverick Couch, a high school junior who was threatened with suspension if he wore a T-shirt to school bearing the slogan, “Jesus Is Not a Homophobe.”

(Palm Springs, CA, April 20, 2012) – Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of Riverside County late yesterday asking the Court to reverse several convictions from a June 2009 sting operation in the Warm Sands neighborhood of Palm Springs because the arrests were the result of discriminatory enforcement of the laws.

(Las Vegas, April 10, 2012) – Lambda Legal today filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Nevada on behalf of eight same-sex couples challenging Nevada’s constitutional ban on marriage equality, which relegates them to only a second-class status.

Meet the plaintiffs.

(New York, April 5, 2012)—With news last month that the New York state legislature has filed over 300 bills away to the Rules Committee preventing them from being voted on, Lambda Legal submitted a memorandum today urging New York legislators to reconsider and support the passage of bill S323/A1008 that, if enacted, would prevent police and prosecutors from using possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution and prostitution-related offenses.  Passing this bill is a critical step toward protecting the health of New Yorkers, including members of communities disproportionately impacted by

“A student’s First Amendment rights are not restricted to one day of the year – we will continue to fight until Maverick is allowed to express who he is on any day he chooses.”

(San Francisco, April 3, 2012) — The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today denied the request of Arizona State officials for an en banc rehearing of an earlier ruling that maintains family health coverage for lesbian and gay State employees until a court issues a final decision in the case.

“Schools should be in the business of educating students about First Amendment freedoms, not trampling on their right to express themselves.”

WASHINGTON, April 2 — A coalition of national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organizations today issued an open letter that described the killing of Trayvon Martin as a "national call to action"; urged local and federal authorities to find answers in the case that has garnered worldwide attention; and demanded justice be served. Full text below: