Tag Archives: Group: National Center for Lesbian Rights

GLAD: Today, the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and other child welfare organizations filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in support of a transgender girl who experienced discrimination …

AP: A transgender woman was banned from a western Idaho grocery store after customers complained she used the women’s restroom, police in Lewiston said.

ACLU: Several national LGBT groups filed an administrative challenge last week to Medicare’s ban on medically necessary healthcare for transgender patients. Medicare currently prohibits all forms of gender reassignment surgeries regardless of the individual patient’s diagnosis or serious medical needs.

Geoffrey Fowler at WSJ via Yahoo News: “What we don’t need at this juncture of a very young and significant debate on marriage is the Supreme Court presenting the nation with a 50-state solution that redefines marriage and removes the question from the hands of the people,” said Austin R. Nimocks of the Alliance Defending Freedom, who is one of the lawyers defending California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage.

Mercury News: Join Mintz at noon Monday for an online chat with Byron Babione, counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a group defending Proposition 8, and Chris Stoll, staff attorney with National Center for Lesbian Rights at www.mercurynews.com | Follow the chat here.

AP on Cox News: Jim Campbell, an attorney for a conservative Christian legal organization that isn’t involved in the Beatie case, said in an email that the failure of the courts to protect traditional marriage has led to chaos and that children are being led into “increasingly bizarre situations.” “Sadly, the deep confusion created by these two women, and the biological father who helped conceive the children, is just a symptom of much greater societal problems,” said Campbell, of the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Sacramento Bee: On Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller ruled that the law prohibiting licensed mental health providers from steering patients under 18 away from gay and lesbian lifestyles does not infringe on the suing providers’ constitutional guarantee …

AP: A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked California from enforcing a first-of-its-kind law that bars licensed psychotherapists from working to change the sexual orientations of gay minors, but he limited the scope of his order to just the three providers who have appealed to him to overturn the measure. | Order: Welch v. Brown | Pacific Justice Institute press release: Federal Judge Rules that CA SB1172 Violates Free Speech

AP: Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation that makes California the first state to ban a controversial form of psychotherapy that’s aimed at making gay teenagers straight.

Anti-LGBT Bullying Advocates Meet with Bachmann’s Office | The Advocate: In a meeting that she described as cordial and productive, Aaberg talked about the pervasive bullying her son had faced. The problem was compounded by a school policy that did not adequately counter such harassment, she said. To the contrary, Justin’s school allowed such events as the “Day of Truth” to occur: The annual antigay event is organized by the social conservative legal group Alliance Defense Fund, though the ex-gay group Exodus International has also supported Day of Truth in the past.

ADF attorney David Cortman on the Janet Mefferd Show to discuss the topic. | MP3 audio 19:17 mins | Update and related post.

ADF Attorney Jeremy Tedesco at Minnesota Public Radio News: “Over the top” only begins to describe a June 27 commentary piece authored by Richard Cohen of the Southern Poverty Law Center and Kate Kendall of the National Center for Lesbian Rights regarding the Anoka-Hennepin School District’s sexual orientation curriculum policy.

Minnesota Public Radio News: he Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys who have worked in several states on efforts to ban same-sex marriage, sent a letter to the school district on Tuesday. In it, Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco said the civil rights groups’ arguments have “no basis in law.” “The district should not allow SPLC and NCLR to browbeat them into abandoning its sensible policy of requiring district personnel to remain neutral on issues regarding sexual orientation,” Tedesco wrote. “Neutrality does not equal hostility. Rather, neutrality respects all sides of a controversial issue, and advocates none.”

ADF letter rebuts threats made by groups seeking to force pro-homosexual curricula within Anoka County schools

Star Tribune: Two national groups have urged the Anoka-Hennepin School District to repeal a policy that requires teachers remain neutral about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues (GLBT).The Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights . . .

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]

“The court, meeting in closed session at its San Francisco headquarters, decided unanimously to rule on whether sponsors of ballot initiatives have special authority under state law to defend the measures in court when state officials refuse to do so.”

Gay People’s Chronicle: “The Ohio Supreme Court has heard a case that could whittle away at gay and lesbian couples’ right to shared parenting agreements . . . The 2002 case, In re Bonfield, has become one of the bedrock Ohio cases protecting non-traditional families . . . Not surprisingly, the friends of the court filings on both sides are similar to those filed in Bonfield, with the ACLU, social workers and the National Center for Lesbian Rights siding with Hobbs, and the anti-gay Liberty Counsel and Alliance Defense Fund with Mullen.”

Christian Science Monitor: “‘We will certainly appeal this disappointing decision,’ said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel [Brian Raum], who represents the official proponents of Proposition 8, in a statement. ‘Its impact could be devastating to marriage and the democratic process.’ . . . ‘This is quite historic because it has been felt that the proponents of gay marriage had been avoiding federal courts under the premise that a ruling there would be more final than in state court,’ says Herma Hill Kay, professor of law at University of California’s Berkeley School of Law.”

ACLU: “The modifications sought by the ACLU to enhance the standards include a set of recommendations to better protect the safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) inmates, who are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse in prison. These specific recommendations were submitted in cooperation with the National Center for Transgender Equality, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Transgender Law Center and LambdaLegal.”

Boston Globe: “‘I think the Obama administration, if they believe the statute is unconstitutional — which it clearly is — does not have a duty to defend it. In fact, they have a duty not to defend it,’’ Shannon P. Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who took a flight from San Francisco to attend the arguments, said afterward.”

Proposition 8 and the Right to Marry Blog summarizes links to the newly filed amicus.

“Christian Legal Society has brought on board as lead counsel, former federal appellate judge Michael McConnell, now director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School.”

PR Newswire: “The federal trial over the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8 will begin Monday, January 11 with an opening statement by attorney Theodore Olson, who with David Boies is leading the legal team assembled by the American Foundation for Equal Rights to litigate the case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger . . . While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown were named defendants in their official capacities, along with other state and county officials, Prop. 8 is being defended in court by a prominent conservative organization, the Alliance Defense Fund.”

Margaret Talbot writing in The New Yorker: “If the Perry case succeeds before the Supreme Court, it could mean that gay marriage would be permitted not only in California but in every state . . . However, a loss for Olson and Boies could be a major setback to the movement for marriage equality . . . The legal team on the other side will be led by Charles Cooper, a Washington lawyer who succeeded Olson as assistant attorney general under Reagan, and by the Alliance Defense Fund, a sort of Christian-conservative counterpart of the A.C.L.U.”

Bay Area Reporter: “Defending the anti-gay measure is the Alliance Defense Fund, which represents the group that pushed to pass Prop 8, ProtectMarriage.com. In a legal twist, both Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown are not defending the state law and have, in fact, told the court that Prop 8 is unconstitutional.”

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News: “Attorneys for two couples who wish to be married but cannot because of Prop. 8 will argue today at a hearing in favor of allowing cameras in the courtroom during the federal trial on the unconstitutionality of the initiative. The trial is set to begin January 11 . . . While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown were named defendants in their official capacities, Prop. 8 is being defended in court by the prominent conservative organization, Alliance Defense Fund. Gov. Schwarzenegger earlier filed a brief that did not dispute the unconstitutionality of Prop. 8, and called for swift action by the courts.”

SCOTUS Blog: “On the opinion page of the L.A. Times, two lawyers for the group Hastings Outlaw, one of the respondents in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, which the Court granted earlier this month, respond to an editorial last week in the same newspaper that described the Christian group as having a “strong case.”  The authors emphasize that the Hastings College of Law policy at issue in the case – which denies school funding to student groups that discriminate on the basis of religion when admitting members – applies to all groups that discriminate among their members, not just religious groups.  In an ongoing debate with David French of the National Review Online (see his latest post here, Eugene Volokh of The Volokh Conspiracy defends the law school.”

A listing and links to all the posts in the French v. Volokh discussion can be found here.

The Desert Sun: “A federal judge ruled this month that a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8 could proceed after an attorney supporting the same-sex marriage ban could not say how allowing gay couples to wed threatens conventional marriage . . . Attorneys representing the group that sponsored Proposition 8 — Charles Cooper and Andrew Pugno — did not return a phone call seeking comment Friday. The Alliance Defense Fund, also a defendant in the suit, referred questions to Pugno.”

ACLU: “Today Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco denied the request of Our Family Coalition; Lavender Seniors of the East Bay; and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) to join Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a federal lawsuit challenging California’s Proposition 8.”

Mercury News: “The conflict, which until this summer percolated behind the scenes, went very public in recent weeks when the powerhouse group backing the latest lawsuit against Proposition 8 moved to block the direct involvement of gay rights groups that previously led the charge against gay marriage bans in California and other states. . . . Proposition 8 supporters are watching the feud from the sidelines, although they likewise oppose allowing the gay rights groups into the case, other than to file friend-of-the-court briefs. ‘It appears they’re taking the position that if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,’ said Brian Raum, attorney for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund.”

But [Campaign for Cal. Families] now says it was never a true party to the marriage cases and shouldn’t have to pay the $12,000 in court costs ordered by S.F. Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer for those pre-Proposition 8 battles . . .

“The Idaho Department of Correction has settled lawsuits with two transgender inmates who castrated themselves after they were denied feminizing hormone therapy.”

AP: “Three gay-friendly legal groups have asked to be part of a federal lawsuit challenging California’s same-sex marriage ban — a request that drew an icy reception from the activists behind the case.”

The Advocate reports: ” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown have declined to defend Prop. 8 in federal court, leaving its likely defense in the hands of conservative legal groups like the Alliance Defense Fund, which has filed papers asking a federal judge to allow it to intervene.”

Sarah Lundy reports in the Orlando Sentinel: “The issue is whether Florida, the only state with a blanket ban on gay adoption, must recognize another state’s adoption laws, even if those laws, such as Washington’s, permit gay adoptions.”

Bay Area Reporter: “‘Correcting that error won’t change the outcome, but given the continuing importance of the distinction between amendment and revision for our state constitution, we hope the court will set the historical record straight,’ he wrote.”

“The court should take note that even an attorney general that wants to strike the amendment down agrees it is not a revision,” said Glen Lavy, a lawyer for Alliance Defense Fund in Scottsdale, Ariz. . .

The AP has this report that begins: “Gay rights advocates asked California’s highest court Friday to keep off the November ballot a citizens’ initiative that would again ban same-sex marriage.” The San Francisco Chronicle has this report that concludes: “First, …

“We need to start with states where we have the best odds of winning. When we’ve won in a critical mass of states, we can turn to Congress and the federal courts.”

MyDesert.com provides this Q & A with Shannon Minter of the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights regarding the California marriage ruling. ADF is mentioned in the article.