4/19/2009

"The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and Lambda Legal announced today that they have received assurances from officials at Greenbrier High School that the school will stop censoring a student from wearing shirts expressing pro-gay messages.

ACLU Of Tennessee And Lambda Legal Applaud School's Protection Of Free Speech

'This ruling opens the doors of many, many homes to needy children.'

4/16/2010

"In a nod to the rights of lesbian and gay couples, President Obama has ordered the nation's hospitals to allow patients to determine for themselves who has visitation rights and who can make medical decisions.

"...Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal's executive director, hailed Obama's directive as a 'great leap forward in addressing discrimination affecting LGBT patients and their families.'

Today, as the U.S. Supreme Court hears a challenge by a Christian student group to the University of California Hastings Law School non-discrimination policy, Lambda Legal and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) say that public funds and student fees should not be used to support discrimination.

4/17/2010

"University of Houston health law professor Seth Chandler said he's not aware of any Texas law that would currently prevent a hospital from denying a gay or lesbian from visiting a patient. If a hospital were so disposed, the only recourse in Texas would be for the patient to designate the person a legal guardian or agent.

4/16/2010

"President Obama handed same-sex couples a victory without picking a drawn-out fight with conservatives this week when he ordered hospitals around the country to honor patients' wishes about who may visit their sickbeds or risk losing Medicaid and Medicare money.

"...Many hospitals honor the advance directives or stated wishes of patients. But decisions often fall to nurses or doctors who don't know the rules, said Tara Borelli, a staff attorney at Lambda Legal, a New York group that represents patients in such cases.

4/17/2010

"President Obama's decision Thursday night to grant same-sex couples hospital visitation rights is the latest and most visible example of a strategy to make concrete steps toward equality for gays and lesbians without sparking a broad cultural debate or a fight with Congress.

"...Kevin Cathcart, the executive director of Lambda Legal, which had filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Florida couple, said he repeatedly raised the issue with White House officials in telephone calls, private conversations and group meetings.

4/16/2010

"...The Obama memo is inspired in part by the case of Janice Langbehn, who was kept from seeing her partner, Lisa Pond, as she slipped into a coma. Last September a federal judge rejected Langbehn's lawsuit against Florida's Jackson Memorial Hospital, saying there was no law requiring the staff to grant Langbehn access to Pond's bedside.

"After signing the memo, Obama called Langbehn from Air Force One, according to a statement issued by Lambda Legal, which represented Langbehn in court.

4/15/2010

"President Obama on Thursday ordered his health secretary to issue new rules aimed at granting hospital visiting rights to same-sex partners.

"...Gay rights advocates said the rules change was inspired by one of those cases involving a same-sex couple, Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond, who were profiled in The New York Times last year. After Ms. Pond was stricken with a fatal brain aneurysm, Ms. Langbehn was denied visiting rights in 2007 by a Florida hospital.