Tag Archives: Group: Lambda Legal

KTAR (AP): A groundbreaking civil union ordinance in the southern Arizona city of Bisbee will lose much of its punch after Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne on Monday said he’s reached an agreement in principal on changes that will remove his opposition and a threat to sue to block it from taking effect.

LifeSiteNews: Phone calls made by LifeSiteNews to Mrs. Young’s business line were not immediately returned. But Jim Hochberg, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom who represented Mrs. Young in the case, said the ruling was a violation of his client’s freedom of speech and religion under the First Amendment. “The public needs to be aware of this decision because it has far-reaching consequences,” he told reporters Monday.

A Hawaii Circuit Court judge yesterday held that a bed-and-breakfast violated Hawaii’s public accommodation civil rights law when its owner, apparently for reasons of religious belief, refused to provide lodging to a lesbian couple.

NPR: The court could, as some predict, strike down the section of the law banning federal recognition of same-sex marriages but leave unsettled questions related to state recognition of such unions. If that happens, health coverage problems for same-sex couples could persist, say advocates.

The News-Herald: Jim Campbell, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, which backs Proposition 8, stresses the political battle over gay marriage is “at some point in the middle. … The Supreme Court should resist demands to prematurely end the national debate.”

AP: Arizona lawmakers have jumped in to the national debate over the rights of transgender people with a bill being debated Wednesday that would make it illegal for people to use public restrooms not associated with their birth gender.

Lambda Legal: Last April, Amber Hatcher made plans to observe National Day of Silence, a student-led day of action sponsored by Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) in which thousands of students across the country remain silent to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. She asked for permission from her principal, Mrs. Shannon Fusco, nearly a month before the event and provided information from GLSEN and Lambda Legal that explained the observance and students’ legal right to participate. When Principal Fusco threatened Amber with “ramifications” if she participated . . .

(1/17) Lambda Legal today announced that the State of Oregon has changed an employee health care policy to remove all language that denies coverage to transgender people for transition-related health care.

AP on S. Florida Gay News: A federal court challenge to Nevada’s ban on same sex marriage has been turned back in U.S. District Court, but proponents vowed Friday to fight on with an argument that a pair of state laws regarding same-sex unions unconstitutionally make gay couples “second-class citizens.”

Lambda Legal: Today plaintiff couples in Darby v. Orr and Lazaro v. Orr, the lawsuits brought by Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Illinois seeking the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Illinois, met with legislators to urge them to vote in favor of a bill ending the ban on marriage for same-sex couples in Illinois. The bill, House Bill 5710, The Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act, could be voted on by the Illinois General Assembly in January 2013.

Lambda Legal: A diverse and representative jury is an essential component of a fair and impartial legal system. Unfortunately, many minority groups, including LGBT Americans, continue to face discrimination in the jury selection process. To address this injustice, Lambda Legal has endorsed bipartisan legislation sponsored by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT people in federal jury service. A companion bill was also recently introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ).

Lambda Legal is challenging Alaska’s exclusion of same-sex couples from survivor benefits, on behalf of a woman whose partner was shot dead by a disgruntled former employee.

ABA Journal: Gay marriage may move from the political agenda to the U.S. Supreme Court docket this fall when the justices are expected to consider whether to accept two major cases on how the law treats same-sex couples. But unlike the boisterous debates among candidates, the court’s examination promises to be a relatively understated affair because neither case answers the root question of whether the federal Constitution grants a right to gay marriage.

Florida Courier: The Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments Oct. 2 in a possibly first-of-its-kind case pitting two lesbian partners who used in-vitro fertilization to have a child but later ended their relationship. The case could be unprecedented in Florida because the fertilized egg of one woman was implanted in her then-partner, who gave birth.

Democratic Underground: . . . judge Sophia Hall is a lesbian and claiming that means she should recuse herself in the case. The Cook County circuit court judge is handling a challenge to the constitutionality of state laws that define marriage as between one man and one woman.

Gina Miller at Renew America: Thanks to the Lord, the Illinois Family Institute has the support of the Alliance Defense Fund and the Thomas More Society. Through the Alliance Defense Fund, they will be filing a motion to intervene in this case to defend the Illinois marriage law against this wicked assault . . . Pray for the State of Illinois and for those who are fighting for the side of truth. Pray for the Illinois Family Institute, the Alliance Defense Fund and the Thomas More Society, and as always, consider sending financial support to these groups.

Lambda Legal: Today, Lambda Legal announced that, beginning in July, Washington County will extend spousal benefits to all eligible county employees married to a same-sex spouse. The County’s decision comes on the heels of a complaint filed by Lambda Legal . . .

Today’s announcement by State’s Attorney Alvarez makes it clear that this lawsuit was an ‘inside job’ from the beginning, a crass political move to force same sex marriage on all Illinoisans without providing the residents of the other 101 counties an opportunity to be heard.

Chicago Tribune (includes video): The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office concedes in a court filing today that the state’s ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional, according to a spokeswoman.

TeutopolisPress.com: State Representative David Reis (R-Ste. Marie) is calling upon Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to recuse herself and the resources of her taxpayer-funded state office from supporting two lawsuits questioning the constitutionality of Illinois’ gay marriage ban

WCTV.tv: The Brevard County case is unprecedented in Florida because the fertilized egg of one woman was implanted in her then-partner, who gave birth. The couple began raising the child together, but a legal battle began after a break-up that included the birth mother moving to Australia with the child.

Chicago Phoenix: “As we feared, civil unions have not turned out to be equal to civil marriages,” Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, said in a statement. “In area after area, couples were either treated unequally or denied their rights. As we learned in history, separate does not make equal.”

MetroWeekly: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) will be joining Lambda Legal and the ACLU in arguing that Illinois’s civil unions law does not meet the state’s constitutional guarantees of equal protection, raising the question of what the Cook County clerk of courts — the named defendant — will do in its response to the lawsuits.

One News Now: “Because yes, they do want the benefits — but what homosexuals want centrally is cultural approval,” explains the family advocate. “They want there to be no formal public recognition that homosexual unions are different from heterosexual unions.”

World Magazine: Smith added that IFI is working with the Alliance Defense Fund to see whether his group has standing to oppose the lawsuits and to evaluate the legal options. The situation “is discouraging for a lot of reasons,” said Laurie Higgins, a cultural analyst for IFI, not least because the Illinois news media are declining to address key issues. For example, she pointed out, gay rights proponents insist that marriage has nothing to do with gender or having children—but if marriage is just about subjective feelings, why should the government be involved at all?

USA Today: The two lawsuits filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and advocacy group Lambda Legal challenge Illinois marriage law on a constitutional basis. | Lambda Legal PR and case information page | ACLU press release

Austin R. Nimocks at Townhall: You think you’ve seen and heard every argument regarding same-sex “marriage,” and then the Baltimore Sun writes an editorial that divorce has now somehow strengthened the case for same-sex “marriage.”

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy: I blogged last month about the school district’s refusal to allow the shirt; “the message communicated by the student’s T-shirt,” the district argued, “was sexual in nature and therefore indecent and inappropriate in a school setting.” The student sued on First Amendment grounds, and Lambda Legal reports that the district has settled; here are the key terms:

Las Vegas Sun: Lambda attorneys in the suit highlighted what they suggested was a contradiction in which the state’s Constitution limits marriage to couples composed of a male and a female, while at the same time the Legislature in 2009 created Nevada’s Domestic Partnership law. | Lambda Legal press release and documents

AP: The southwest Ohio school district agreed in a conference between attorneys and the judge to let 16-year-old Maverick Couch wear the shirt bearing the message “Jesus Is Not A Homophobe” on April 20, according to federal court records.

USA Today: Superior Court Assignment Judge Linda Feinberg is allowing the suit against the state to include a previously dismissed argument that New Jersey’s marriage laws deny equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Des Moines Register: A same-sex couple filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Iowa Department of Health, seeking a new death certificate for their stillborn child after one of their names was removed from the original death certificate. | Lambda Legal press release

Lambda Legal: Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed a lower court ruling and remanded the case of Lambda Legal client, Richard Roe, back to district court. Roe applied to be a police officer with the Atlanta Police Department (APD), but was denied employment because of his HIV status. | Roe v. City of Atlanta

TPM: But Young’s got a little high-powered help. Her attorney, from the Alliance Defense Fund, argues that the lawsuit threatens Young’s religious freedom because “no business owner should be forced to violate his or her religious beliefs because someone is offended by those beliefs.”

LaTimes.com: The 5th District Court of Appeal ruled that the U.S. and Florida constitutions trump Florida law and give parenting rights to both women. State law, it added, has not kept up with the times. | D.M.H. v. D.M.T., No. 5D09-3559 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. (5th), Dec. 23, 2011)

ADF Allied Attorney Jim Hochberg appeared on the Michael Medved Show to discuss the suit in Hawaii that lesbians have filed against a bed and breakfast. | MP3 audio 33:53 mins

Hawaii News Now: The B and B’s attorney, Jim Hochberg, says he hasn’t seen the suit so he cannot comment. Lambda Legal says it hasn’t been able to find a license permitting Aloha Bed and Breakfast to operate . . . Hochberg says he’s defending Young with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund.

Newser: Reached by phone, owner Phyllis Young declined to comment and referred questions to her attorney. Honolulu attorney Jim Hochberg said he is representing her on behalf of the Alliance Defense Fund, an organization of attorneys representing people whose religious freedom is infringed. He said he hadn’t yet seen the complaint.

Lambda Legal: “Lambda Legal filed a discrimination lawsuit today in the First Circuit Court of Hawai’i on behalf of a lesbian couple rejected by a commercial business establishment, Aloha Bed & Breakfast, because of the owner’s personal antigay beliefs.” | Complaint: Cervelli v. Aloha Bed & Breakfast

Lambda Legal: “The single most important principle contained in the guidelines is that affirming the sexual orientation and gender identity and expression of LGBTQ youth in care protects young peoples’ emotional safety and ensures positive outcomes,” said Flor Bermudez, Lambda Legal’s Youth in Out-of-Home Care Staff Attorney. “We are pleased that the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) will make the Recommended Practice Guidelines available to every state child welfare agency in the country to help meet the needs of LGBTQ children.”

The Associated Press: Keeton’s lawsuit was brought by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian advocacy group that that presses faith-based cases in court nationwide. It argues that the First Amendment protects Keeton’s rights to share her beliefs about gays with others.

Lambda Legal (includes video): Today, the White House announced that former Lambda Legal client Janice Langbehn will be one of 13 recipients of the 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.

A Superior Court judge let a lawsuit seeking marriage for same-sex couples in New Jersey proceed, but she sharply pared down the number of allegations in the case against the state.

OneNewsNow.com: But as Jeremy Tedesco of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) points out, such incidences are happening in schools all across the country. “They’re just bypassing parents, especially on some of the most controversial stuff that students are exposed to — sex education, the battle regarding the homosexual agenda,” he laments. “The school districts are starting just to say, ‘Well, we know what’s better for your kids. We’re not even gonna tell you what we’re doing.’”

Idaho Statesman: The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based firm that presses faith-based cases in court, issued a statement Monday saying the district was “duped” by gay rights activists into ditching the proposed parental consent policy. “School districts do not need to give in to activist demands that parents be left ignorant about what their children are exposed to,” said Jeremy Tedesco, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, in a statement.

Lambda Legal provided inaccurate legal information to officials so students can join sexually focused clubs without parental permission

Lambda Legal: Lambda Legal and the Idaho Safe Schools Coalition today applauded a Boise-area school district for approving a student club policy that eliminated a new requirement that students get parental permission to participate in clubs and other restrictions that would have harmed lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and violated their rights.

Lambda Legal: Lambda Legal, along with several Iowa-based legal organizations, will host two forums on how best to preserve a fair and impartial judiciary after last year’s ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices.

Lambda Legal: Last week, the school board issued a revised policy that now makes clear that student clubs are not prohibited from discussing “sexual orientation including such subjects as combating unfair treatment, prejudices, or stereotypes.” However, the policy retains the requirement for parental consent to join a club. Furthermore, it maintains a three-tier structure for student organizations (exempt, curriculum, and non-curriculum), relegating all non-curriculum clubs, including Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs), to the third tier and significantly limiting their ability to access school resources.

A decision by a federal appeals court in New Orleans threatens to undermine hard-won gains by gays and lesbians, and the U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to review it.

Lambda Legal: Yesterday, Lambda Legal filed an amicus brief in a case involving Cristina Ojeda and Monica Alcota, a married binational lesbian couple from Queens, New York. The friend-of-the-court brief argues that immigration officials are incorrectly relying on an inapplicable case for authority to continue deportation proceedings while the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is being challenged. | Brief

“A gay rights organization is seeking Supreme Court review of the case of a gay couple who wanted both their names to appear on the birth certificate of the Louisiana child they adopted in New York.”

Lambda Legal: Today Lambda Legal and Morrison & Foerster LLP filed an amended complaint challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in its case representing Karen Golinski, a federal court employee denied spousal health benefits for her wife.

Lambda Legal: Lambda Legal, Knights Out, OutServe, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Anti-Defamation League today filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals urging it to uphold a lower court ruling that declared “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) unconstitutional. The brief was filed in support of a case originally filed in 2004 by the Log Cabin Republicans.

Milwaukee News Buzz: Meanwhile, Wisconsin Family Action is getting legal help from the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization based in Arizona. It’s fielding three staff attorneys and two in Wisconsin that it has described in press releases as “ADF-allied,” Michael Dean of Waukesha and Taylor Samuel of Kenosha.

federal judge refused Wednesday to order the government to provide insurance benefits to the wife of a lesbian court employee in San Francisco, coverage the Obama administration has denied because of a law the president considers unconstitutional

ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco writes at the Speak Up Movement University Blog: Non-profit advocacy groups often raise funds by highlighting the actions of groups their donors oppose, and I have no gripe with Lambda highlighting Julea Ward’s important civil rights case to its donors. In fact, it could be viewed as a form of flattery that Lambda’s letter spills most of its ink on ADF cases. My problem is with the letter’s complete misrepresentation of Ms. Ward’s case (there appear to be other inaccuracies in the letter that exceed the scope of this post).

Greg Scott, ADF National Media Relations Director, writes at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: “President Obama took 61% of the California vote to Sen. McCain’s 37%. Proposition 8, California’s state constitutional marriage protection amendment, cruised to a comfortable 52.24%-47.76% win. The math isn’t all that hard. The fact is, plenty of folks who voted for then-candidate Obama also voted to restore the definition of marriage in deep-Blue California.”

E.J. Graff writes at NPR: “But the headlines missed the technical but important note in Holder’s announcement: the Obama administration believes that any law affecting lesbians and gay men deserves “heightened scrutiny” by the courts. That obscure legal term means that the Obama administration believes — and will argue officially — that the federal and state governments can’t treat lesbians and gay men any less well than it treats our heterosexual siblings without giving an exceptionally good reason.”

Lambda Legal: “A federal judge has requested the U.S. Department of Justice to explain how it plans to defend denying spousal health benefits to a lesbian federal employee, following an announcement yesterday by the Obama administration that it believes the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White has given government attorneys until Monday, February 28, to respond.”

Lisa Keen writes at theWindy City Times: It is possible—just as happened in California—that some other entity might attempt to mount its own defense of DOMA in the pending cases. Last October, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, filed a motion in the two First Circuit cases, seeking to be named intervenor-defendant. Smith, aided by the right-wing Alliance Defense Fund, said at the time that the Justice Department was providing “no defense at all” for DOMA. He withdrew his motion a few weeks later, without comment. [this report contains a lengthy list of responses from homosexual groups]

Lambda Legal: “Yesterday the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued a letter to state birth registrars announcing a procedure change allowing a woman to be named as a parent on the Maryland birth certificate of the child born to her same-sex married spouse, without the necessity of a court order. Lambda Legal applauds this advance for Maryland children.”

ACLU: “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments today in a case defending the right of transgender people to receive medical care while they are incarcerated. Under Wisconsin law, prison doctors are prohibited from prescribing hormone treatment to transgender inmates. The law is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Wisconsin and Lambda Legal.”

Lambda Legal: “Today the Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments in Lambda Legal’s case defending Michele Hobbs, a lesbian mother who was denied access to her child when she and her former partner, the biological mother, ended their relationship.” | In Re S.J.L. and J.K.L

Lambda Legal: “Late yesterday, Lambda Legal filed papers in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit defending a lower court ruling that the Georgia General Assembly discriminated against Lambda Legal client Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender woman …

Lambda Legal: “On May 19, 2006, Principal Diane Rouse stretched her arms across the door of the senior prom, blocking Logan’s entrance because Logan was wearing a dress; at the time, Logan identified as a feminine male. Classmates and friends rallied to Logan’s defense to no avail—even though a female student was allowed to attend dressed in a tuxedo.”

Lambda Legal: “Lambda Legal has sent a letter to Governor-Elect Jerry Brown urging him to scrutinize closely the judicial philosophies of those he appoints as state court judges and to add greater diversity to the bench.”

Lambda Legal: “The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California will hear oral arguments this Friday, December 17, in a Lambda Legal case that could result in the next major court decision regarding the federal so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act,’ or DOMA.”

Lambda Legal: “The Illinois General Assembly is expected to vote on a civil unions bill during this veto session, and Lambda Legal urges the Illinois House and Senate to provide much needed protections for same-sex couples.”

Virginia Law Weekly: “On Monday, the Law School hosted Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund and Matt McGill of Gibson Dunn for a debate on Proposition 8, California’s recently passed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. A U.S. District Court recently held that Proposition 8 violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. The 9th Circuit will hear the case on appeal on Dec. 6.”

Lambda Legal: “Lambda Legal yesterday filed a brief in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in a lawsuit that could result in the next major court decision regarding the constitutionality of the so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act,’ also known as DOMA.”

Golinski v. United States Office of Personnel Management, No. 3:10-cv-0257-JSW (N.D. Cal.)

Los Angeles Times: “Iowa’s rejection of three state supreme court justices who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage underscored the growing electoral vulnerability of state judges as more and more are targeted by special interest groups, legal scholars and jurists said Thursday.”

Lambda Legal: “Lambda Legal today filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to leave in place pending appeal the injunction a federal district court judge issued against enforcement of the U.S. military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT) ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, saying that the policy’s impact extends far beyond those in uniform and that continuing it would do irreparable harm to lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans.”

Lambda Legal: “Lambda Legal has released a short guide aimed at tax professionals and California’s registered domestic partners explaining the consequences of a significant shift in federal tax policy as they file their tax returns for 2010.”