Press Release

(Washington, D.C., February 24, 2005) — The United States Department of State illegally prohibits anyone with HIV from being hired as a Foreign Service Officer, regardless of the applicant's qualifications or health status, Lambda Legal will argue in federal court Friday. In Lambda Legal's federal lawsuit seeking to remove the ban on Foreign Service applicants with HIV, leading health experts have filed papers supporting a medically justified approach for assessing Foreign Service applicants. 

(NEW YORK, January 7, 2000) — The United States Supreme Court, which rarely hears matters of family law, should reject extreme positions on all sides of a Washington visitation case with potential implications for lesbian and gay families, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Friday.

(Olympia, Washington, Tuesday, March 8, 2005) — The Washington Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a lawsuit brought by Lambda Legal and the Northwest Women’s Law Center seeking full marriage for same-sex couples statewide.

(San Francisco, March 14, 2005) — A California state trial court ruled today that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry, in a decision that Lambda Legal called “a historic breakthrough for couples who need the protections and security marriage provides.”

(NEW YORK, January 7, 2000) — Building on its pioneering work to protect lesbian and gay students in public schools, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund announced Friday that veteran child welfare advocate Colleen Sullivan will lead its nationwide effort on behalf of young people in foster care. Lambda’s new initiative addresses the needs of youth in a system notorious for abuse and neglect.

(Trenton, March 16, 2005) — A New Jersey tax court judge issued a ruling today in the case of a veteran who was seeking full property tax relief benefits allowed to married veterans. Since by law in New Jersey he can't marry his long-time partner, he only received 50 percent of the benefit. The judge ruled that the veteran and his partner of 30 years were entitled to the full 100 percent of the benefit under New Jersey's Domestic Partnership Law.

The case is Hennefeld and O'Dell v. Township of Montclair.

(New York, March 24, 2005) — Citing serious concerns about his record of hostility to civil rights claims, Lambda Legal today announced its opposition to the nomination of U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

(NEW YORK, December 28, 1999) —With the new year, momentum toward fairness and equality for lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV has never been greater, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said, pointing to major developments that include its unprecedented role before the United States Supreme Court.

(NEW YORK, December 20, 1999) — The Vermont Supreme Court, in a unanimous first of its kind ruling Monday, ordered the state legislature to extend to lesbian and gay couples the same rights, protections, benefits and obligations available to non-gay couples through marriage, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said.

Lambda Marriage Project Director Evan Wolfson said, "This is a glorious day. Vermont's highest court has ordered an end to unequal treatment of lesbian and gay families."