"Arizona cannot cancel the insurance benefits for the domestic partners of state and university workers who are gay, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

"In a unanimous opinion, the three-judge panel agreed with the state that it is not obligated to provide health insurance for its workers or their families.

"...Tara Borelli, an attorney for the Lambda Legal, said the appellate judges recognized the unfairness to gays of what the Legislature did.

"'The law's been set up now in this terrible 'gotcha' for same sex couples,' she said."

"Proponents of Proposition 8 argued Tuesday that Yes on 8 must be granted standing to defend the California same-sex marriage ban in federal court to protect the power of the people to amend their constitution; opponents argued Yes on 8 must be denied standing in order to protect the power of the people to elected state officers, in accordance with the state constitution.

"A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Arizona must continue for now to provide health care benefits to same-sex partners of state government workers.

"The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a temporary block on a controversial 2009 state law that sought to strip health coverage for gay and lesbian domestic partners of Arizona employees.

(Fort Worth, TX, September 7, 2011) – Lambda Legal today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas claiming Tarrant County College officials violated the U.S. Constitution by preventing a qualified candidate from interviewing for full-time teaching positions because of their belief that she is a lesbian.

(San Francisco, September 6, 2011) — Today, the California Supreme Court heard arguments as to whether the proponents of Proposition 8 have an adequate interest under California law to defend the constitutionality of such an initiative when public officials decline to appeal a judgment invalidating it. Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Legal Director Jon Davidson following today’s oral arguments:

(San Francisco, September 6, 2011)—The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld an injunction that temporarily maintains family health coverage for gay and lesbian employees of the State of Arizona until a court issues a final decision in the case.

Lambda Legal represents seven lesbian and gay state employees—including from the State Department of Game and Fish and state universities—who are challenging a move by the Arizona Legislature to eliminate the equal health care benefits that they rely on to safeguard their families' health—just as heterosexual workers do.

"State Rep. Deborah Mell (D-Chicago) quietly made Illinois history last week. She got married. To a woman.

"But she had to go to Iowa to do it.

"...'Their Iowa marriage is deemed to be a civil union under Illinois law,' said Christopher Clark, senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal, a national civil rights organization."

Read more on suntimes.com

(New York, August 24, 2011) - Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would implement new procedures for assessing deportation and removal cases. The changes are designed to align immigration cases with federal immigration priorities, and are expected to result in the administrative closure of deportation and removal cases for immigrants with U.S. citizen spouses and children who pose no threat to national security or public safety.

In response to the court's swift decision in Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Springfield-in-Illinois et al. v. Illinois et al, Lambda Legal's Marriage Project Director Camilla Taylor issued the following statement:

(Philadelphia, PA August 18, 2011) - Today Lambda Legal announced the resolution of a discrimination complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) against the City of Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Youth Study Center (YSC) among others. Lambda Legal filed the complaint on behalf of L.P. a now 18-year-old transgender woman who was physically attacked by other residents and verbally abused by staff every day for almost a year and a half when she lived in the youth facility.