(New York, November 3, 2010) - Three well-respected Iowa Supreme Court Justices lost retention elections last night following a vicious campaign by antigay groups who targeted them because of the Court's 2009 unanimous marriage equality decision in Lambda Legal's lawsuit.

A safe haven of invisibility rarely if ever exists for LGBT people. Prizing invisibility causes damage in and of itself, and subsequent incomplete or "failed" invisibility becomes a frank invitation for oppression.

In response to today's procedural ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal permitting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to remain temporarily in effect during an appeal, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Staff Attorney Peter Renn:

11/1/2010

"Joshua Vandiver, a Colorado native who is earning his Ph.D. in politics at Princeton University, said he is the studious type who has rarely embraced activism. But now, just months into his legal marriage to Venezuelan Henry Velandia, he is fighting to save his husband from being deported.

"...The Constitutional problem with DOMA is that states have historically controlled family law in issues of marriage, parenting and inheritance, according to Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel at Lambda Legal and director of the National Marriage Project.

Almost three decades have passed since the first HIV cases were identified in the United States, but the unfortunate reality is that there is still significant stigma associated with HIV. Too often, disclosure that a person has HIV wreaks havoc on that person’s life. And worry about stigma has been linked to failure to get tested for HIV, delays in seeking medical care, restricted access to medical care, failure to adhere to medical treatment and faster disease progression. Allowing individuals to retain control over disclosures of their confidential HIV records therefore remains exceptionally important.

For many lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender youth, antigay and sexist harassment continue to be a stark reality. Based on press reports during September 2010 alone, at least five teenagers killed themselves after suffering from antigay and sexist bullying. Lambda Legal's advocacy for students' right to attend schools without being harassed for simply being who they are continues to be necessary and an important priority.

An elderly man evicted from a North Little Rock assisted-living center because he had the virus that causes AIDS is scheduled to attend a White House conference on HIV and aging this week.

And what do we think of unknown people? The monsters emerge: Myths of gay men as sexual predators, transgender people as inherently deceptive and dangerous. The city commissioners in my hometown dared to pass an ordinance barring discrimination based on gender identity. Extremists put the ordinance up for majority vote. To promote their campaign they papered people's parked cars with cartoons showing men lurking in women's bathrooms to attack young girls. They added racism into the attack by broadcasting staged video scenes of dark men sneaking into playground restrooms following blonde little girls.

10/25/2010

"Lambda Legal argued [in its friend-of-the-court brief] that the government's continued enforcement of 'don't ask, don't tell' 'exacts an intolerably high cost" on the mental and physical health of gay and lesbian service members because they 'must remain on constant high alert, self-policing every word, gesture, and glance that could arouse suspicion regarding their sexual orientation.'

Lambda Legal today filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to leave in place pending appeal the injunction a federal district court judge issued against enforcement of the U.S. military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT) ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, saying that the policy's impact extends far beyond those in uniform and that continuing it would do irreparable harm to lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans.