Press Release

(Chicago, March 8, 2006) — Last night, Crystal Lake Park District Board voted to allow the Gay Games to hold its rowing competition at Crystal Lake, reversing an earlier denial of permission. Lambda Legal staff attorney, Jim Madigan, testified before the Board on behalf of the Gay Games, arguing that the Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the use of public accommodations such as Crystal Lake.

(LOS ANGELES, May 11, 1998) -- In a test of California's ban on employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, the state Court of Appeals in San Diego this week hears argument on behalf of a former insurance agent who suffered severe anti-gay harassment on the job, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Monday.

To be heard Friday, May 15, by the state Court of Appeal in San Diego, this is one of the first appellate cases to test California employment discrimination protections based on sexual orientation.

(CHICAGO, May 6,1998) Refusing to address the medically unsupported claim that spit can transmit HIV, the Ohio Supreme Court Wednesday upheld a man's conviction on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon for spitting at a police officer, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said.

Only one judge addressed the HIV issues raised in the case of Jimmy Bird, and he firmly rejected the notion that the spit of a person with HIV poses any danger to others. Bird is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

(New York, April 5, 2006) — Today, Lambda Legal announced the results of a wide-ranging workplace fairness survey of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community conducted with Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP.

(NEW YORK, May 5, 1998) Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Tuesday that its victory on behalf of a lesbian organization seeking tax-exempt status marked the second time in recent months the IRS has had to back down on its efforts to interfere with the mission of a gay community group.

(Chicago, April 18, 2006) — Lambda Legal today filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop discrimination against students at the Noble Street Charter School who tried to create a gay straight alliance (GSA) student group.

(CHICAGO, May 4, 1998) -- Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund petitioned the United States Supreme Court today to strike down Cincinnati's city charter amendment banning discrimination protections for lesbians and gay men.

Known as Issue 3, the law was approved by voters in 1993 to stop Cincinnati from giving any discrimination protection, under any circumstances, to lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Issue 3 has never been put in force because of the five-year legal challenge by Lambda and its co-counsel on behalf of lesbian and gay Cincinnatians.

(Chicago, April 19, 2006) — Today, Lambda Legal announces that attorney James P. Madigan has joined its Midwest Regional Office in Chicago as Staff Attorney.

Prior to joining Lambda Legal, Madigan was an associate in the law firm of Goldberg, Kohn, Bell, Black, Rosenbloom & Moritz, Ltd. in Chicago, Illinois where he worked extensively on class action defense and complex civil litigation matters. He also previously was a lecturer in law and held a teaching fellowship at the University of Chicago Law School.

ALBANY, NY (April 24, 2006) — In 14 friend-of-the-court briefs filed with the New York Court of Appeals, national and statewide religious and civil rights leaders and organizations urge the court to put an end to state laws that deny same-sex couples the protections of marriage. The court is hearing oral arguments in lawsuits brought by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union and others on behalf of same-sex couples on May 31, 2006.