Lambda Seeks Regional Director for Chicago Office

(CHICAGO, October 2, 1998) -- In an effort to keep up with growing demand in an eight-state region, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Friday that it will be expanding its Chicago-based staff by hiring a Midwest Regional Director.

Lambda's Midwest Regional Office (MRO) has done extensive gay rights and HIV-related litigation in areas such as adoption, school safety, access to health care and insurance, employment discrimination and free speech.

"We are investing in our Midwest success," said Legal Director Beatrice Dohrn from Lambda's national headquarters in New York. "Adding a regional director will expand our litigation resources and strengthen our education and policy work while building our infrastructure for the long haul," he added.

The MRO covers Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since opening with one other staff person in 1993, supervision of both the legal and administrative work at the MRO has been handled by Managing Attorney Patricia M. Logue. The office now has six positions, including one staff attorney, Heather C. Sawyer.

The Midwest Regional Director will handle administration, fundraising, and public education work at the MRO. The change also will allow Logue to focus on Lambda's groundbreaking sexual orientation litigation as well as managing Lambda's regional legal staff.

"I am looking forward to giving my full attention to expanding our civil rights work in the Midwest," said Logue, "I am very proud of our accomplishments in the region. The addition of a regional director is the logical next step in Lambda's growth in the midwest," said Logue.

Logue has been involved in some of Lambda's most notable cases. In 1996, she helped Jamie Nabozny win a nearly $1-million dollar settlement from Ashland, Wisconsin, school officials who failed to stop severe anti-gay abuse. She also assisted Tim Holless, a man dragged off a plane at O'Hare International Airport because he had AIDS. Logue continues to work on the on-going challenge to Issue 3, the anti-gay Cincinnati charter amendment. She also argued and won cases securing second-parent adoption and custody rights for lesbian and gay parents in Illinois.

Applicants for the regional director position should send a resume and cover letter by November 13, 1998, to Deputy Director Fran Goldstein, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, 120 Wall Street, Suite 1500, New York, New York 10005.

Founded in 1973, Lambda is the nation's oldest and largest legal organization serving lesbians, gay men, and people living with HIV and AIDS.

Contact: Patricia Logue 312-663-4413; Peg Byron 212-809-8585, 888-987-1984