"We cannot sit back and turn over the courts to extremists hostile to equality and civil rights."

(New York, June 9, 2005) Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart made the following statement concerning the Senate vote today confirming William H. Pryor’s appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit: “Today’s Senate vote giving the most antigay nominee in memory a lifetime appointment to the federal bench is deeply disappointing. But we will continue to fight for fair courts. We cannot sit back and turn over the courts to extremists hostile to equality and civil rights. “The confirmation of somebody like William H. Pryor, who has a record of blatant hostility to fairness for gay people, underscores what’s at stake — the ability of all people, whether politically popular or not, to get a fair hearing in court. “In the weeks ahead we’ll build even stronger opposition to another federal nominee, Terrence Boyle, who has a record of unbroken hostility to the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal law that protects people with HIV from discrimination. “The radical right wants to limit basic civil rights by controlling the courts. All of us — gay or straight, religious or secular — have a stake in preserving a judiciary that is guided by fairness, not bigotry.”

### Contact: Lisa Hardaway, 212-809-8585 x266 Lambda Legal’s Courting Justice Campaign is Online at: www.lambdalegal.org/courtingjustice