(LOS ANGELES) — Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund will describe key national and regional civil rights concerns for the year at a media briefing in Los Angeles, said Lambda Executive Director Kevin M. Cathcart.

At a breakfast briefing on Friday, February 2 at 9:30 a.m., top legal strategists from Lambda’s headquarters in New York and Western Regional Office in Los Angeles will identify leading discrimination problems facing the gay community.

Washington, DC - The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund (Lambda Legal) have launched an historic partnership to fundamentally change the way lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are treated in the nation’s foster care system. The three-year venture, “Fostering Transitions: CWLA/Lambda Legal Joint Initiative To Support LGBTQ Youth and Adults Involved with the Child Welfare System,” is supported by a grant from the Andrus Family Fund.

(San Francisco, Friday, Sept. 19, 2003) - With Gov. Gray Davis set to sign the most sweeping statewide domestic partnership legislation in the nation this evening, Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund today released in-depth resources that outline what the new law means for same-sex couples in California and how their lives will be impacted by the protections it provides.

(Denver, Monday, Sept. 22, 2003) - Saying that one of the nation’s largest HMOs may cost a Denver man his life by refusing to cover a kidney transplant because he has HIV, Lambda Legal today filed a formal appeal with Kaiser Permanente and asked the HMO to reverse its denial in light of a range of scientific data and the man’s personal health history and experience.

(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.

(Washington, D.C., October 2, 2003) -- Just months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all laws prohibiting consensual sodomy in the nation, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network are urging the military’s highest court to strike a similar law from its code of conduct.

(Kentwood, Louisiana, October 8, 2003) - Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund said today that a stroke patient who was rejected by six Louisiana nursing homes because he has HIV has been admitted by one of the facilities, Kentwood Manor in Kentwood, Louisiana. Under the agreement, Lambda Legal plans to drop legal action against Kentwood Manor, but continues discrimination claims against the five other nursing homes that refused to admit the man, causing him to live hours from his family.

(Denver, Wednesday October 8, 2003) - Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund today welcomed Kaiser Permanente’s announcement that it has reconsidered its initial rejection of a kidney transplant for a Denver-area man with HIV and will now cover the procedure.

Late last month, Lambda Legal filed a formal appeal with Kaiser Permanente, asking the HMO to reverse its denial in light of a range of scientific data and John Carl’s personal health history and experience.