"Definitions of who is protected by the bill leave gaping loopholes so that no one will be fully protected against discrimination. Congress should finish the work it began 44 years ago when it made employment discrimination based on sex illegal, and once and for all rid the workplace of sexual stereotypes."

STATEMENT

(San Francisco, CA, October 3, 2007) — In a resounding victory, a California Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed the validity of a Board of Equalization rule that protects domestic partners from increased property taxes when one of the partners dies and the other inherits the couple's home.  California law has long provided this protection for surviving heterosexual spouses.     

(New York, October 4, 2007) — Lambda Legal, AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the Center for HIV Law and Policy are sending a set of 15 HIV testing principles to help guide the 23 state and local public health departments, announced last week, that will receive funding by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to conduct increased HIV testing campaigns.

(New York, October 1, 2007) — Lambda Legal and Workers' Rights Law Center of New York are representing the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center to secure exemption from real property taxes after its application was wrongfully denied by the City of Kingston, New York.

(New York, October 1, 2007) — Lambda Legal's preliminary assessment of the revised version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act shows the bill to be riddled with loopholes in addition to failing altogether to protect transgender people against discrimination.

(San Francisco, CA, September 26, 2007) In 30 amicus briefs submitted today to the California Supreme Court, scores of religious, civil rights, and child advocacy organizations, along with numerous California municipal governments, bar associations, and leading legal scholars, urged the court to put an end to state laws that deny same-sex couples the protections of marriage.

(New Brunswick, NJ, September 26, 2007)—Lambda Legal Marriage Project Director, David Buckel who was lead attorney on the Lewis v. Harris marriage equality lawsuit in New Jersey and clients from the recent UPS matter will provide testimony tonight at the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission hearing in New Brunswick.

(New York, September 18, 2007) — Today, Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal, issued the following statement in response to the Maryland Court of Appeals' decision in Conaway v. Deane & Polyak, the lawsuit seeking marriage for same-sex couples in Maryland.

(New York, September 12, 2007) -- A trial court judge in New York state has upheld as consistent with New York law the state Comptroller's policy to recognize for purposes of the New York State Retirement System the marriages of same-sex couples entered in Canada.

"This is one more court saying that respect for out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples is the law in New York," said Susan Sommer, Senior Counsel at Lambda Legal "We thank Comptroller DiNapoli for standing up for the rights of lesbian and gay New Yorkers."

(Montgomery County, MD, September 4, 2007) — In court papers filed recently in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland Lambda Legal represents Metro DC Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) in a lawsuit over a decision by the Montgomery County School Board to include information about sexual orientation as part of the health education curriculum for 8th and 10th graders.