FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, December 21, 2009

(Los Angeles, June 16, 2009) ­­­­— One year ago today marks the first day same-sex couples were able to marry in California. Lambda Legal Marriage Project Director Jennifer C. Pizer issued the following statement:

"In this year that saw more than 18,000 couples wed in California and marriage laws change in four additional states, the movement for marriage equality has had moments of profound joy as well as heartbreak.

(Madison, Wisconsin September 22, 2009) — In court papers that will be filed today, Lambda Legal is seeking to intervene on behalf of Fair Wisconsin and its members in a lawsuit brought by an antigay group attempting to strip away newly enacted domestic partnership protections for same-sex couples and their families.

(Tucson, Arizona, November 17, 2009) — Lambda Legal has filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tucson to block a move to strip domestic partner benefits from gay and lesbian state employees. Arizona lawmakers included a provision stripping domestic partner health benefits from state employees as part of a last–minute budget deal signed by Governor Jan Brewer in September, while retaining spousal health benefits for heterosexual workers.

(Atlanta, Georgia November 24, 2009) — In the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia today, Lambda Legal and co–counsel filed a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta, the chief of police and 48 individual officers of the Atlanta Police Department (APD) on behalf of 19 individuals who, on September 10 at the Atlanta Eagle gay bar, were forcibly searched and detained.

(Philadelphia, PA October 27, 2009) — Today Lambda Legal filed a complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) against the City of Philadelphia and the Youth Study Center (YSC) among others on behalf of a 17-year-old transgender girl who was physically attacked by other residents and verbally abused by staff every day for almost a year and a half.

(New York, October 29, 2009) — Lambda Legal announces that Laura Brill of Los Angeles, Marla Butler of Atlanta, Karen Dixon of Washington D.C., and Marcus Boggs of Chicago were elected to Lambda Legal's National Board of Directors at its board meeting in Dallas earlier this month.

(Phoenix, September 8, 2009) — Lambda Legal is profoundly concerned and disturbed by a move by Arizona lawmakers on Friday to strip health benefits from the domestic partners of state employees.

State legislators for months had taken aim at the equal benefits plan approved last year by former Governor Janet Napolitano, now Department of Homeland Security Secretary. On Friday, current Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a budget bill with the provision revoking the health insurance coverage for domestic partners.

(Los Angeles, November 18, 2009) — Lambda Legal condemns the brutal murder last week of a gay 19-year-old youth in Puerto Rico and calls for action on laws and policies that prohibit discrimination.

Jorge Steven López Mercado was decapitated, dismembered and his body partially burned near the town of Cayey, in what appears to be a hate crime. The Coordinator of Lambda Legal's Proyecto Igualdad issued the following statement:

(Washington, D.C., September 21, 2009) — At a hearing for the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) before a U.S. House of Representatives committee, Lambda Legal client Vandy Beth Glenn will provide testimony about why the federal government must act to end workplace discrimination among the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Lambda Legal represents Glenn in a case against Georgia legislative officials after they fired her because she is transgender.