Press Release

(New York, October 5, 2011) - Today, Lambda Legal and Legal Services NYC (LS-NYC) released a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) guide entitled New York State Marriage Equality Act: Frequently Asked Questions for Couples and Families with Low or No Income for same-sex couples who are or plan to get married in New York. This series of factsheets explains how marriage equality may impact immigration status, parent-child relationships, public assistance, food stamps, Medicaid, Medicare, housing, consumer issues, Social Security benefits, and New York state income taxes. Lambda Legal and LS-NYC are hosting a community training on these issues on Thursday, October 13 at 9:30AM (at LS-NYC, 40 Worth Street, NYC).

Jon Davidson, Legal Director at Lambda Legal, issued the following statement regarding today's decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals vacating an earlier U.S. District Court ruling declaring "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) unconstitutional.

Members of the Positive Justice Project, a national coalition dedicated to ending the targeting of people with HIV for unreasonable criminal prosecution, voiced their support for the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act that Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced today.

(New Orleans, La., September 20, 2011) - Forum for Equality Louisiana has named Lambda Legal as the first recipient of its Justice Acclaim Award in recognition of Lambda Legal’s work on the case of the gay couple seeking a Louisiana birth certificate for their Louisiana-born adopted son.

(New York, September 20, 2011) - Today marks the end of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT) - a discriminatory policy that banned gay, lesbian, and bisexual soldiers from serving their country openly. DADT ruined thousands of careers, and the frequency of discharges disproportionately affected women of color.

(Los Angeles, September 13, 2011) - After receiving a letter from Lambda Legal and the Idaho Safe Schools Coalition, Joint School District No. 2 in Meridian, Idaho has amended a policy regarding student clubs, but the revised policy still harms lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and violates their rights.

Lawyers for the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives (BLAG) informed U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White that they "prefer not" to participate in a pilot project to video-tape oral arguments at an October 21, 2011 hearing in Golinski v OPM, a federal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

(Fort Worth, TX, September 7, 2011) – Lambda Legal today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas claiming Tarrant County College officials violated the U.S. Constitution by preventing a qualified candidate from interviewing for full-time teaching positions because of their belief that she is a lesbian.

(San Francisco, September 6, 2011) — Today, the California Supreme Court heard arguments as to whether the proponents of Proposition 8 have an adequate interest under California law to defend the constitutionality of such an initiative when public officials decline to appeal a judgment invalidating it. Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Legal Director Jon Davidson following today’s oral arguments:

(San Francisco, September 6, 2011)—The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld an injunction that temporarily maintains family health coverage for gay and lesbian employees of the State of Arizona until a court issues a final decision in the case.

Lambda Legal represents seven lesbian and gay state employees—including from the State Department of Game and Fish and state universities—who are challenging a move by the Arizona Legislature to eliminate the equal health care benefits that they rely on to safeguard their families' health—just as heterosexual workers do.