9/30/2009

"A closely watched legal case that focused on whether hospital patients have a right to visitors has ended in disappointment for patient advocates and gay rights groups. A federal judge has dismissed a Florida lawsuit in which a same-sex partner and her children weren’t allowed to visit a dying woman’s bedside, saying a hospital trauma center has no legal obligation to allow visitors.

9/30/2009

"In the home state of Charlie Crist, where the law does little for the Sunshine State's LGBT residents, a horrific court rejection that only highlights the extent to which gay and lesbian couples are treated in the most inhumane way — one that heterosexual couples will never experience — during their most vulnerable moments. The case is Langbehn v. Jackson Memorial Hospital (Lambda Legal).

9/29/2009

"A federal court in Miami has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Washington state lesbian who was not allowed to visit her dying partner at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

"'The hospital took the position that we thought was pretty extreme — that it has no duty, no legal obligation, to allow visitors [of any sort] in the hospital. The court agreed,' said Beth Littrell, a staff attorney for Lambda Legal, a national gay-rights group representing Janice Langbehn, whose partner of 17 years died at Jackson in 2007.

9/29/2009

"A California woman has settled a lawsuit against her former doctors who denied her artificial insemination based on her sexual orientation, attorneys for both sides said Tuesday.

"Guadalupe Benitez, 36, of Oceanside, and her spouse sued doctors at North Coast Women's Medical Group in Vista for discrimination in 2001. California's highest court last year barred the Christian doctors from invoking religious beliefs, ruling state law prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination extends to the medical profession.

9/29/2009

"A long-running lawsuit between an Oceanside lesbian couple and two doctors that pitted the civil rights of same-sex couples against religious freedom for physicians has been settled.

"The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. It ends a lawsuit filed in 2001 by Guadalupe Benitez against Drs. Douglas Fenton and Christine Brody at North Coast Womens Care in Vista.

9/6/2009

"From a legal point of view, people with HIV — regardless of the stage of infection — are considered disabled and protected against discrimination under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. 'The courts don't understand the medicine and get things wrong,' said Bebe J. Anderson, HIV Project director for Lambda Legal. She adds that discrimination against people with HIV isn't based on the status of their infection. 'The effects of HIV on people can be different,' she explained, 'but the social effects are the same because it's based on HIV.'"

"When Vandy Beth Glenn, formerly Glenn Morrison, was summoned to her boss's office Oct. 16, 2007, she was not prepared for the exchange that followed.

"...The subsequent federal lawsuit brought by Glenn and Lambda Legal, a gay, lesbian and transgender advocacy group, has drawn national attention and renewed debate over the necessity of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act currently pending in the House of Representatives. The bill would make discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity illegal across the country.

9/23/2009

"The House Education and Labor Committee held its first full committee hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act today. Here is testimony from eight witnesses."

Watch the testimony from Lambda Legal plaintiff Vandy Beth Glen on towleroad.com

9/22/2009

"A group of Wisconsin same-sex couples and a national gay-rights legal group is asking to be allowed to be part of a challenge to the creation of Wisconsin’s state’s new domestic partnership program.

"Lambda Legal, which advocates for civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, is asking the state Supreme Court to allow it to intervene on behalf of Fair Wisconsin, which is defending the domestic partnerships established in the budget Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed in July.

9/22/2009

"Fair Wisconsin said it will seek to intervene in a lawsuit that asks the court to strike down the law giving same-sex couples some spousal benefits. The move is the latest development in a case that has already faced one unexpected delay since its filing July 23.

"...It will be represented in the case by the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a New York-based gay rights group.