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Janet Jenkins, a mother represented by Lambda Legal, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), the ACLU of Virginia and cooperating attorneys in a custody dispute, issued a statement on January 4, 2010, beseeching the public's help in locating her missing daughter, Isabella Miller-Jenkins, who has been in the care of her former partner (and Isabella's other mother), Lisa Miller.

In November 2009, a Vermont court ordered that Miller, who had relocated to Virginia, transfer custody of Isabella to Jenkins on January 1. The order was based on Miller's failing to honor visitation orders, as well as the court's belief that Jenkins would do a better job facilitating Isabella's relationships with both parents. The transfer did not occur. Miller and Isabella's whereabouts are currently unknown.

"Isabella is my daughter," reads Jenkins' statement. "I was there with Lisa when she gave birth to Isabella. We gave her both our last names, since we were both her parents. After Isabella was born, Lisa and I cared for her together. We both fed her, played with her, changed her diapers, and loved her.

"My goal has never been to separate Isabella from Lisa. I just want Isabella to know and love both of her parents. I just want to be with her, like any parent. Please help me find my child."

Isabella was born in 2002, after Jenkins and Miller, then a couple, decided to have a child together. Miller was artificially inseminated to conceive the child.

In 2003, Miller filed papers in Vermont asking the court to dissolve her and Jenkins' civil union and decide the custody of their child. The court granted temporary custody to Miller and visitation to Jenkins. The court later determined that Jenkins is Isabella's legal parent.

When Miller took her case to Virginia's Supreme Court, she invoked Virginia's antigay marriage law to have herself declared the child's sole legal parent. Lambda Legal represented Jenkins, defended her relationship with her daughter and won a decision upholding the Vermont court's decision. Lambda Legal has represented Janet for over five years, including multiple appeals, and every level of Virginia's court system has ordered that Virginia respect the orders of the Vermont courts.

"Our main concern remains for the safety and well-being of Isabella. Our client, Janet Jenkins, has done everything she can as a loving parent to work within the system to protect her child. Lisa Miller has repeatedly defied court orders and her behavior has been outrageous and harmful. Today our thoughts are with Janet who does not know where her daughter has been taken. This terrible situation cannot continue. Miller and Isabella must be found and the transfer of custody must take place as the court has ordered," said Greg Nevins, Senior Supervising Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal's Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta.

The case is Miller-Jenkins v. Miller-Jenkins.

On December 18, Lambda Legal expressed outrage over the Obama Administration's latest move to deny equal benefits for LGBT employees when it defied a ruling by a chief federal appeals judge that ordered spousal health benefits for a married lesbian court employee.  Three days later, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski ruled that the Administration had waived its right to appeal the ruling and is conclusively bound. 

In November, Judge Kozinski ruled that Karen Golinski is entitled to receive health benefits for her wife, Amy Cunninghis, just as married heterosexual court workers do. Despite Judge Kozinski's ruling, the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) disagreed, contending that the law governing federal employees' health insurance and the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) prevents the required coverage.  OPM has instructed Golinski's insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, not to follow Kozinski's orders.

"Lambda Legal believes Judge Kozinski is clearly correct that employees of OPM and the U.S. Department of Justice do not have superior authority to interpret federal law than federal judges," says Lambda Legal Marriage Project Director Jennifer C. Pizer in Friday's statement.

Lambda Legal also expressed its concern that the Obama Administration "has chosen to express its views of these legal questions through Friday-afternoon press statements, rather than by presenting its legal reasoning in the process required of Golinski."

"OPM has never disputed that this administrative forum is the appropriate venue for this discrimination claim, and yet has refused to participate and present its views. This is not the approach to issues of LGBT equality we had anticipated and deserve from the Obama Administration," Pizer says.

Lambda Legal and the Morrison & Foerster law firm are representing Golinski in her discrimination grievance against her employer.

On Tuesday, December 15, the District of Columbia City Council voted in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in the District.

"Our capital city is embracing the true promise of our Constitution," says Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart. "Everyone should be treated equally. More Americans are extending support to gay and lesbian couples who want full marriage equality, and this victory in Washington sends a strong message."

Earlier this year, District of Columbia City Council member David Catania introduced the "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009" — a bill that would give same-sex couples the right to marry in the district. The bill's provisions also include exempting church officials from required participation in same-sex wedding ceremonies.

Because the district is not a state, Congress has 30 session days (likely about two calendar months) to enact a joint resolution to disapprove the new law if it wishes to do so; President Obama would have to sign or veto that resolution. If Congress takes no action, the Council's vote stands and will take effect soon after.

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

"The illegal activity going on in the Atlanta Eagle that night was committed by the APD," says Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal's Southern Regional Office, which is based in Atlanta. "If it is APD procedure for elderly men and wounded veterans to be thrown to the floor and harassed simply for being in a bar having a drink after work, then the APD should change its procedures."

Dan Grossman, co-counsel in the case, has been working with victims of the raid since that night. "I've listened to dozens of stories from patrons who were mistreated by police at the Atlanta Eagle that night," said Grossman. "The Atlanta Police Department is not above the law. They do not get to search and detain people who are not suspected of any crime."

On September 10, 2009 the Atlanta Police Department dispatched more than 20 officers to the Atlanta Eagle, including its "Red Dog Unit" dressed in SWAT team gear. Inside the bar the APD found no public sex, no drugs or illegal weapons. During the raid, patrons of the bar were forced to lie facedown on the floor while background checks were run on everyone. Eagle bar patrons heard antigay slurs and were forced to lie in spilled beer and broken glass. One patron was forced to lie on the floor even though he had injured his back in the Iraq War. Not a single patron was charged with any crime.

"The Atlanta Eagle is one of my favorite bars. I usually go there to drink a beer, unwind and watch a football game after rehearsing with the Gay Men's Chorus," said Mark Danak, a Lambda Legal client named in the case. "But that Thursday night was a very serious experience I will never forget."

The Midtown Ponce Security Alliance, a neighborhood community watch group often critical of gay nightlife venues, told the press it had never received reports of crime at the Eagle nor had its members observed crime or disorder coming from the bar.

The lawsuit challenges the APD officers' actions, claiming violations of the U.S. and Georgia Constitutions and Georgia state law.

The case is Calhoun v. Pennington.

In a unanimous decision in two cases defended by Lambda Legal, the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, ruled that government agencies could continue to recognize marriages of same–sex couples performed out of state for purposes of granting spousal benefits to public employees. The judges also urged New York's legislature to act on the marriage rights of same–sex couples.

The decision leaves intact the conclusions by lower courts in Lewis v. New York State Department of Civil Service and other cases that out–of–state marriages of same–sex couples should be given legal respect in New York. A national antigay legal group, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), had appealed lower–court rulings to that effect.

On October 13, Lambda Legal Director of Constitutional Litigation Susan Sommer argued before New York's highest court on behalf of two married same–sex couples, asking judges to reaffirm New York law and the previous court decisions.

Peri Rainbow and Tamela Sloan, long–time public employees who intervened in Lewis, are raising a special–needs child adopted in foster care. "We just want to be able to continue using the health insurance that provides important medical benefits for our family," Rainbow said. "Thanks to this victory in court, we can."

Lewis was filed by the ADF after the New York Department of Civil Service (NYDCS) extended health insurance to same–sex spouses of public employees married in jurisdictions where same–sex couples can wed. The policy shift had wide–ranging ramifications: With over one million individuals enrolled, NYDCS's state public health insurance program is the largest in the nation, second only to that of the federal government.

In March 2008 the Albany County Supreme Court declared that the NYDCS was following the law, a decision upheld on appeal by the Appellate Division.

Lambda Legal also represented Michael Sabatino and Robert Voorheis in Godfrey v. Spano, a challenge brought by the ADF against the Westchester County Executive for issuing an executive order recognizing the out–of–state marriages of same–sex couples.

In September 2006, the ADF sued in an attempt to block the order. Lambda Legal intervened, and in March 2007, a trial court in Westchester County dismissed the ADF's complaint. On appeal, the Appellate Division likewise ruled that the ADF had no case.

"The ADF has brought four different cases in New York against four different sets of government defendants," says Sommer. "Twenty judges have ruled in those cases. All twenty have ruled against the ADF and in favor of the government and married same–sex couples. With government protections secured this round in Lambda Legal's cases, the ball is now in the State Senate's court."

Advocates see marriage recognition as a key milestone on the path to full marriage equality. Lambda Legal first filed a marriage–equality lawsuit in New York in 2004. Although unsuccessful, less than a year later the New York Assembly passed a marriage equality bill for the first time, though it was not brought up for a vote in the State Senate.

New York Governor David Paterson, a vocal proponent of marriage equality, added his marriage–equality bill to the agenda of an emergency legislative session on November 10. While he has vowed to sign marriage equality into law by year's end, State Senators have not yet put the bill, which has passed in the Assembly, on the floor for a vote.

Friday, November 20 marks Transgender Day of Remembrance. Lambda Legal salutes advocates in communities and on campuses from coast to coast who are using the day to remember those who have lost their lives to hatred and violence.

"We remember those transgender people who have been harmed by hate and discrimination, and we remember those who have been killed," said Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart in a statement. "But remembering is not enough. We will keep working for equality."

Lambda Legal has long been at the forefront of the fight for transgender rights. Currently Lambda Legal is lead counsel on a suit against the Georgia General Assembly's Legislative Counsel on behalf of Vandy Beth Glenn, who was fired from her job as a legislative editor because she is transgender. On October 27, Lambda Legal also filed a complaint against a Philadelphia youth detention facility on behalf of a transgender girl who was physically attacked by residents and verbally abused by staff for a year and a half. The complaint, filed by Lambda Legal with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR), claims that the Youth Study Center violated the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance, which prohibits harassment and discrimination on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, sex and disability.

Lambda Legal plaintiff Vandy Beth Glenn in Washington, D.C.

"Transgender people in this country too often face harassment, discrimination and physical violence," Cathcart said. "This is unacceptable and must end."

In September, Lambda Legal client Glenn bravely and movingly testified at a hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) before the House Education and Labor Committee, urging officials to pass it. In addition, Lambda Legal sent a letter to the leadership of the committee explaining its support for the bill.

"My editorial skills had not changed," Glenn said at the hearing. "My work ethic had not changed — I was still ready and willing to burn the midnight oil with my colleagues, making sure that every bill was letter–perfect. My commitment to the General Assembly, to its leaders, and to [Sewell] Brumby had not faltered. The only thing that changed was my gender."

In June, Cathcart called for swift passage of an inclusive version of ENDA, stating it "would ensure that in most workplaces a person's qualifications and job performance, rather than sexual orientation or gender identity, will be the factors that determine success on the job."

"Despite the fact that the majority of Americans favor equal rights for lesbians and gay men with regard to job opportunities, less than half of all states specifically ban workplace discrimination in the private sector based on sexual orientation and even fewer states expressly ban discrimination based on gender identity," he says.

Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tucson today to block a move to strip gay and lesbian state employees of domestic partner benefits.

"This is an issue of equal pay for equal work," said Tara Borelli, staff attorney for Lambda Legal. "By stripping away these vital benefits from loyal state employees, the state isn't just paying them less for the same work than their heterosexual colleagues — it's pulling away a vital lifeline that all workers need. This is simply cruel and saves the state next to nothing."

Lambda Legal represents 10 state employees — including from the Arizona Highway Patrol, the State Department of Game and Fish and state universities — who rely on health benefits from their employers to keep their families safe.

Lead plaintiff Tracy Collins (left), a senior highway patrol officer, with her partner of ten years, Diana, whose current job does not offer health benefits.

Arizona's domestic partner benefits for gay and lesbian public employees were adopted in the fall of 2008 under the leadership of former Governor Janet Napolitano, who left in January 2009 to become Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. This summer Arizona legislators approved a budget bill with a provision revoking the benefits while retaining the comparable health benefits for heterosexual public workers. Current Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed it.

Plaintiff Keith Humphrey (left) with his partner of eight years, Brett Klay, who was diagnosed over the summer with a torn carotid artery. Losing the health insurance that allows Klay to access medical appointments, monitoring scans and medication to prevent a potentially fatal blood clot is a terrifying prospect for the couple.

Arizona Highway Patrol Officer Tracy Collins is the suit's lead plaintiff. Collins relies on the benefits to protect her partner of almost 11 years, Diana Forrest, and their family. "I put my life on the line every day for the people of Arizona just by going to work," said Collins. "Though the stress of working a dangerous job takes a toll on my family, I'm proud to serve and protect our community. But losing Diana's health coverage will put us in a desperate situation."

Plaintiff Deanna Pfleger (right), her partner Mia Labarbara and their children.

The case is Collins v. Brewer.

Last night advocates for LGBT equality were served a mixed bag of results.

Hopes for a historic electoral victory in favor of marriage rights were disappointed when Maine voters approved Question 1 by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent. Voters blocked the bill ending marriage discrimination which legislators and the governor approved in May, dashing, for the moment, the dreams of thousands of couples in the state.

In Washington State, voters upheld comprehensive domestic partner rights and protections for same-sex couples, 52 percent to 48 percent.

In addition, voters delivered another victory in Kalamazoo, Michigan where they affirmed city-approved antidiscrimination protections for LGBT residents in housing, employment and public accommodations by a decisive margin, 62 percent to 38 percent.

Of the Maine setback, Lambda Legal Marriage Project Director Jennifer C. Pizer says, "Just a few days after Halloween, we see how effective our opponents' trick-or-treat strategy truly was – going state to state, shouting ‘boo’ at voters to scare them into voting away the rights of their gay neighbors. Forcing any minority to endure a barrage of lies and insults, ending with a vote that denies them full citizenship, is cruel – it’s not the government our founders envisioned. Ballot measures driven by prejudice are poison; honesty and equality are the essential cure.”

Pizer and Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart applaud the heroic efforts of the LGBT advocacy groups, volunteers and allies who stood up for equality, including Protect Maine Equality, Washington Families Standing Together and One Kalamazoo.

There have been many important wins for equality this year — including the Iowa Supreme Court’s judgment in favor of marriage equality in a suit led by Lambda Legal, the passage of the federal hate crimes act, passage of marriage equality laws in Vermont and New Hampshire, and the elimination of the twenty-year-old ban on travel to the U.S. by people living with HIV.

Marriage-equality bills may also come before legislators in both New York and New Jersey in late 2009 or early 2010. Washington, DC is also on target to approve a city marriage-equality bill by year's end and send it to Congress for review. Local leaders hope Congress will not interfere; last summer, it let stand DC's breakthrough out-of-district marriage-recognition law.

“Let’s ramp up our demands that Congress and the Obama administration finally abolish ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,’ eliminate the so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act’ and enact ENDA to make nondiscrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity the law of the land,” Cathcart says. “All of these are crucial components in our struggle for equal rights.

Read Marriage Director Jennifer C. Pizer's full statement.

The Obama administration is seeking input from groups and individuals as it develops a National HIV/AIDS Strategy to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The administration has identified three broad goals for that national strategy: 1) to reduce HIV incidence; 2) to increase access to care and optimize health outcomes for people living with HIV and 3) to reduce HIV-related health disparities.

Protecting the civil and human rights of people with HIV/AIDS must be a central part of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Lambda Legal and allied HIV civil rights organizations submitted a list of 15 critical civil rights issues for people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States that the new federal administration must address. Although the administration has made progress on several of these items, much remains to be done on these and other important issues.

The Obama administration needs to hear from community members like you about what should be included in the national strategy. Please submit your comments on or before November 13. You can also attend a town hall meeting during November or December.

The following are examples of important national HIV/AIDS issues that we believe must be included in the national strategy:

1. Combat government policies which criminalize consensual sex and other behaviors of people living with HIV. Criminalizing conduct based on HIV status stigmatizes people with HIV and is a barrier to HIV testing, because only those who know they have HIV are subject to prosecution. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should distribute information about HIV transmission risks and myths to criminal justice personnel, state health departments, and the general public. The Department of Justice should issue guidance discouraging prosecutions in the absence of a specific intent to transmit HIV.

2. Revise approaches to HIV testing to reflect the value to patients of providing specific written consent and receiving meaningful information before and after testing. The number of people who learn their HIV status and are linked to care needs to be increased through testing that is voluntary, informed and consensual. The CDC should encourage programs that meet that patient-centered standard.

3. Provide immigrant detainees with confidential, timely and effective access to HIV treatment. There are significant deficiencies in HIV care for immigrant detainees. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should take steps to both ensure the adequacy of care for immigrant detainees and increase the accountability of detention facilities for compliance failures. In addition, DHS should add nondiscrimination provisions to its detention standards and promote alternatives to detention for immigrant detainees with HIV.

Your input is invaluable to developing a National HIV/AIDS Strategy that protects the rights of people with HIV/AIDS.

After President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law this afternoon, 30 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV advocacy organizations issued the following statement to mark the historic event:
 
"It took much too long, more than a decade. And it came at too great a price: the brutal killings of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. are just two among the thousands of crimes motivated by hate and bigotry.
 
"But this week, the president put pen to paper and fulfilled a campaign promise, the signing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, extending the federal hate crimes statute to include sexual orientation and gender identity along with race, religion, gender, national origin and disability. Our deepest hope and strong belief is that this new law will save lives. Now, lawmakers and the President have made an imperative statement to the country and the world: Our nation will no longer tolerate hatred motivated violence against LGBT people.
 
"We have worked long and hard for this and its passage is historic.
 
"According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, there are nearly 8000 hate-crime related incidents annually, and more than 1200 of those incidents involve violence based on sexual orientation or gender identity. And even more alarming, while the overall occurrence of hate crimes is declining nationally, hate crimes against LGBT people have been increasing. This year alone, we saw hate crimes trials in the brutal killings of two transgender women, Angie Zapata and Lateisha Green.
 
"As a result of this legislation, if local jurisdictions are unable or unwilling to investigate or prosecute hate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity, the Justice Department can now step in. And that’s why the LGBT community never stopped working for this historic day.
 
"This legislation not only has practical value, but is a symbol of our progress. It is the first time in the nation’s history that Congress has passed explicit protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. We could not have reached this moment without the powerful support of our allies who stood with us every step of the way. We are deeply grateful to civil rights, civic, faith, and disability rights groups, as well as law enforcement and district attorney organizations who worked side-by-side with the LGBT advocates. We are equally thankful to Congress, President Obama, and members of his administration for passing and signing this bill into law.
 
"While today we celebrate this marker of progress, we must recognize it as only one of the building blocks to full equality and demand that it be just a first step toward equal treatment under federal law in all areas of our lives. And we must focus on the next step.
 
"The passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act provides us with an opportunity. We must use this moment to educate and to keep the momentum going so that we can continue to make progress on the local, state and federal levels. Yes, legislation takes a long time — often years of work. Yet, our community is on the eve of passing much needed protections.
 
"This week, we call upon lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, families and allies to take this opportunity of increased media and public attention on hate crimes to educate co-workers, classmates, neighbors, family members and friends about our lives, and about why we need not only their friendship and love, but their vocal support for a more just and equal America for LGBT people. If your members of congress voted in support of hate crimes legislation, call them and thank them. Then ask them to be there for us again when the vote turns to workplace non-discrimination, military service and partnership rights.
 
"With your help and our collective pressure, equality is within reach.
 
"When talking about the need for hate crimes legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, 'The time for debate is over.'
 
"She was right.
 
"Just as the time has finally come for stronger hate crime protections, it is also time to pass an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, overturn Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and ensure that health care, economic policy and immigration reform incorporate the needs of the LGBT people.
 
"The time for debate is over."
 
 
Jo Kenny, AFL-CIO Pride at Work
Terry Stone, Centerlink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Gabe Javier & Debbie Bazarsky, Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
Marianne Duddy-Burke, DignityUSA
Toni Broaddus, Equality Federation
Jennifer Chrisler, Family Equality Council
Evan Wolfson, Freedom to Marry
Lee Swislow, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
Rebecca Allison, M.D., Gay & Lesbian Medical Association
Chuck Wolfe, Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund
Eliza Byard, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
Marjorie Hill, Gay Men’s Health Crisis
Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign
Rachel Tiven, Immigration Equality
Earl Fowlkes, International Federation of Black Prides
Kevin M. Cathcart, Lambda Legal
Leslie Calman, Mautner Project: The National Lesbian Health Organization
Sharon Lettman, National Black Justice Coalition
Kate Kendell, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Mara Keisling, National Center for Transgender Equality
Justin Nelson, National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
Rea Carey, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Paul Kawata, National Minority AIDS Council
Kyle Bailey, National Stonewall Democrats
Greg Varnum, National Youth Advocacy Coalition
Sharon Stapel, New York Anti-Violence Project
Selisse Berry, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
Jody Michael Huckaby, PFLAG National
Michael Adams, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE)
Aubrey Sarvis, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network