Press Release

Lambda Legal joined a coalition of over 30 organizations and leaders from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), immigrants' rights, civil rights and faith communities to urge Congress to pass the Uniting American Families Act and end discrimination against LGBT binational families.

Today, the Obama Administration announced the first-ever national strategy in the fight against HIV/AIDS - a wide-ranging five-year plan to combat the epidemic in the United States.

The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled simultaneously in two companion cases, one brought by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and another brought by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) on behalf of eight married same-sex couples and three widowers, that Section 3 of the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) is unconstitutional.

Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai`i (ACLU) reacted today with deep disappointment following Hawai`i Governor Linda Lingle's veto of HB 444, which would have allowed gay and straight Hawai`i couples to take legal responsibility for each other by entering civil unions. Having received strong majority votes by both houses of the Hawai`i Legislature, the bill was given final approval on April 29, the last day of the session. Lingle had until July 6 to take action on the bill.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled that the Georgia General Assembly discriminated against Lambda Legal client Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender woman who was fired from her job as Legislative Editor after she told her supervisor that she planned to transition from male to female.

(Phoenix, Arizona, June 28, 2010) — Lambda Legal today presented oral arguments in U.S. District Court in Phoenix to block a law stripping domestic partner benefits from gay and lesbian state employees. Arizona lawmakers included a provision eliminating domestic partner health benefits for gay state employees as part of a last-minute budget deal signed by Governor Jan Brewer last September, while retaining spousal health benefits for heterosexual workers.

Lambda Legal welcomed today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upholds a policy at a California law school that groups receiving campus funding must accept “all comers;” that is, not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation or other status or belief.

(New York, June 25, 2010) — Today, Lambda Legal sent a letter to Senators Leahy and Sessions of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing its views on two issues that may arise during Solicitor General Kagan's confirmation hearings and that directly affect the legal rights of LGBT people and people with HIV: ensuring the appropriate balance between enforcement of antidiscrimination laws and protections for religious freedom; and constitutional protections for the fundamental freedom to marry.

Excerpt from the letter on religious freedom and antidiscrimination laws:

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will sign into law SB 3266, the Prevent School Violence Act, a bill that covers bullying specifically targeted at students because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, among other categories. In response, Lambda Legal released the following statement from Christopher Clark, Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal's Midwest Regional Office in Chicago.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected 8-1 a claim in Doe v. Reed by backers of Washington State's Referendum 71 that releasing the names of people who sign petitions to get an initiative on the ballot exposes them to harassment and intimidation and thus violates their First Amendment right to free speech.