Press Release

(NEW YORK, October 6, 2000) – In a striking sign of the progress the country has made toward embracing gay people’s freedom to marry, the Republican and Democratic vice presidential candidates, during their nationally televised debate, spoke of how they themselves “wrestle with” and are “open to” questions of the legal rights due to same-sex couples.

(NEW YORK, October 6, 2000) – Reversing the most extreme steps taken anywhere in the country against gay-supportive student clubs, the Salt Lake City School Board has decided to change its policy and allow the clubs to meet at schools in the Salt Lake City School District. That decision means two lawsuits on behalf of the clubs can finally be dropped, said attorneys for the students Friday.

(NEW YORK, October 5, 2000) — In a case critical for people with HIV, AIDS, and other disabilities, 20 civil rights organizations urge the United States Supreme Court to uphold the Americans with Disabilities Act’s protections against discrimination by state agencies, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Thursday.

(CHICAGO, October 4, 2000) — National authority on HIV and AIDS policy A. Cornelius Baker’s upcoming Bon Foster Memorial Civil Rights Lecture on Friday, October 20 comes at a crucial time for discrimination protections in the United States, said Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Wednesday.

On Friday, October 20, Baker will address a packed crowd at the Palmer House Hilton, examining the difficult challenges of fighting AIDS and AIDS-related discrimination and how that discrimination affects the lesbian and gay community.

(NEW YORK, Monday, October 2, 2000) — A significant group of 31 civil rights and victims’ advocacy organizations are joining Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in appealing the meager amount awarded for a county sheriff’s failure to protect Brandon Teena from a brutal murder.

(ATLANTA, September 21, 2000) — A Florida Court of Appeals upheld Broward County’s domestic partnership ordinance, derailing another right-wing effort to block domestic partner benefits for public employees, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Thursday.

(NEW YORK, September 15, 2000) — Beatrice Dohrn, at the helm of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund’s groundbreaking legal department for most of the past decade, directing Lambda’s civil rights litigation strategy in cases from adoption and employment rights to protections for gay youth and anti-gay initiative challenges, announced her resignation Friday.

(CHICAGO, September 14, 2000) — National authority on HIV and AIDS policy A. Cornelius Baker will deliver the Bon Foster Memorial Civil Rights Lecture next month, at a time when discrimination and health threats to American and international communities demand attention, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Wednesday.

(NEW YORK, September 13, 2000) — Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, together with 19 other civil rights organizations, is urging the United States Supreme Court to uphold the federal Americans with Disabilities Act as a protection against disability-based discrimination by state agencies.

(NEW YORK, September 12, 2000) — Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund has expanded its legal forces with the addition of Susan Sommer as supervising attorney in Lambda’s New York headquarters. The veteran litigator brings Lambda’s total number of lawyers on staff nationwide to 17.