(LOS ANGELES, June 14, 2001) — In a unanimous decision that Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said could help advance domestic partner benefits around the country, a federal appeals court on Thursday upheld key parts of San Francisco’s landmark Equal Benefits Ordinance that requires city contractors to extend benefits to their unmarried employees.

(ATLANTA, June 5, 2001) — Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Tuesday welcomed Hector Vargas as its new regional director in Atlanta, where the legislative lawyer and organizer will advance civil rights efforts on behalf of lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV and AIDS in the South.

Vargas returns to Georgia, his former home, to oversee Lambda’s Southern Regional Office and outreach efforts there and in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

(LOS ANGELES, May 29, 2001) — Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is urging the Washington Supreme Court to reject a conservative taxpayer’s assault on Vancouver’s domestic partner benefits plan, and to leave in place the city’s family benefits plan for unmarried city employees.

On Thursday, May 31, the Washington Supreme Court will hear argument in Heinsma v. City of Vancouver; afterwards Senior Staff Attorney Jennifer C. Pizer of Lambda’s Western Regional Office will be available for comment.

(San Diego, February 7, 2003) - A state appeals court will hear arguments Monday in the case of a San Diego woman whose health care providers refused medical treatment to her because she is a lesbian. Lambda Legal is asking the court to overturn a ruling from last year that said Guadalupe Benitez’s health care providers acted lawfully when, citing doctors’ personal religious beliefs about gay people, they refused to provide infertility treatment to her so she and her life partner could start a family.

(New York, Monday, February 10, 2003) - In cities and towns nationwide starting today, Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund and dozens of local groups will hold celebrations, community meetings, workshops and other events to mark National Freedom To Marry Day this week.

For the last five years, communities across the country have joined Lambda Legal for National Freedom To Marry Day on Feb. 12 - leading up to Valentine’s Day -- to build public support for the right of same-sex couples to marry.

(ATLANTA, May 16, 2001) — Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is urging a federal court in Atlanta to rule that a dental hygienist’s employer violated his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act by firing him after learning he has HIV.

(San Francisco, Friday, February 20, 2004) — Same-sex couples can continue to get married in San Francisco after the latest legal threat was safely cleared today, Lambda Legal said. Judge Ronald Quidachay denied a motion from an antigay group seeking an immediate order forcing the City of San Francisco to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Earlier this week, a different court denied another antigay group’s request to immediately stop the city’s actions.

(NEW YORK, May 11, 2001) — The Kansas Court of Appeals has ruled that courts must consider a wide range of factors, and not focus solely on sex at birth when judging the legal gender of a person who has had a sex change operation. The ruling came Friday as the court considered the validity of the marriage of J’Noel Gardiner, a transgender woman, to her husband, Marshall Gardiner, now deceased.

(San Diego, March 4, 2003) - In the first ruling of its kind in the nation, a California appeals court today said health care providers cannot discriminate against patients based on their sexual orientation. Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which fought on behalf of a lesbian who was denied insemination services by her Southern California health care providers, said the decision will impact lesbians and gay men throughout California and nationwide.

(Boca Raton, September 30, 2003)—Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund announced today that a favorable settlement agreement has been reach in an anti-gay housing discrimination case in Boca Raton, Florida.

The agreement requires Royal Colonial Apartments to post a nondiscrimination statement in their office and on housing application forms. The statement makes it clear that Royal Colonial will not discriminate against gay and lesbian individuals or couples.