Press Release

Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai`i (ACLU) and Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing (AHFI) today announced they have dismissed their lawsuit against the state, following Governor Neil Abercrombie's signing civil unions into law last month. The Hawai`i Senate gave final approval to the bill, SB232, which allows same- and different-sex unmarried couples to enter into civil unions, with an 18-5 vote on February 16, following the 31-19 approving vote by the House on February 11, 2011. The new law takes effect on January 1, 2012.

(Washington, D.C., March 30, 2011)—Today after Rep. Barney Frank introduced the Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Executive Director, Kevin Cathcart:

(Philadelphia, NY, March 29, 2011)—Today, the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York ruled that discrimination claims filed against Indian River Central School District by Lambda Legal and Kirkland & Ellis LLP, on behalf of Charlie Pratt, who suffered sexist and antigay harassment at school, will proceed.

(Chicago, March 23, 2011)—In response to the news that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has terminated legal firm Cullen, Weston, Pines & Bach in the case Appling v. Doyle, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Christopher Clark, Senior Staff Attorney in the Midwest Regional Office in Chicago:

(San Francisco, March 16, 2011)—A federal judge has granted a motion by government attorneys to dismiss Lambda Legal's lawsuit on behalf of a federal court employee seeking spousal health benefits for her wife, but invited the organization to file an amended complaint directly challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA.

In response to today's introduction in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the 1996 so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Lambda Legal National Marriage Project Director Jennifer C. Pizer issued the following statement.

Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California, National Center for Transgender Equality, Transgender Law Center, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, and Lambda Legal join together to express outrage over U.S. Representative Peter King's ongoing "Muslim Radicalization" hearings—the first of which was held yesterday—in the House of Representatives.

Today, the Maryland House re-committed back to committee the marriage equality bill that had previously been approved by the Senate, delaying equality to Maryland's same-sex couples.

Today, upon the re-introduction of the Student Non-Discrimination Act in Congress, Lambda Legal released the following statement by Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy Legal Director of Lambda Legal

Lambda Legal and Morrison & Foerster LLP today told a federal judge that government attorneys have shown they have no further arguments and therefore no further legal barrier exists to a married lesbian federal employee receiving spousal health benefits already provided to her heterosexual co-workers. U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys had argued that, among other reasons, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibits the employer-provided medical insurance that Karen Golinski had requested for her spouse, Amy Cunninghis. Lambda Legal and Morrison & Foerster represent Golinski, a 19-year-employee of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.