Tag Archives: Lambda Legal

The Hill reports: More than a 100 civil and human rights groups are urging senators to oppose Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s latest Supreme Court nominee. In a Tuesday letter, led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the groups say Kavanaugh will be a fifth and decisive vote to undermine a host of core rights and legal protections, …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: The Hawai`i Supreme Court today rejected a petition from a Hawai`i bed & breakfast seeking review of a lower court ruling that the business had violated Hawai’i’s anti-discrimination statute when it denied a room to a lesbian couple because of their sexual orientation. Aloha Bed & Breakfast, whose owner says same-sex relationships “defile our …

From Lambda Legal: Judge Kavanaugh would guarantee 40 more years of Trump’s values on the Supreme Court. Like every other judicial nominee who has a seal of approval from the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, Judge Kavanaugh shares Donald Trump’s same distorted view of the law. We have good reason to fear that Judge Kavanaugh will abuse his power …

USA Today reports: Thousands of people clad in rainbow colors marched Sunday through Greenwich Village and up Fifth Avenue for the annual Gay Pride parade, a massive celebration of LGBTQ identity. One of this year’s grand marshals is tennis legend Billie Jean King, along with transgender advocate Tyler Ford and the civil rights organization Lambda Legal. Lady Gaga’s “Born This …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: “The Court today has offered dangerous encouragement to those who would deny civil rights to LGBT people and people living with HIV. Religious freedom under our Constitution has always meant the right to believe whatever you wish but not to act on your beliefs in ways that harm others. The Court today alarmingly fails …

The Associated Press reports: Mississippi’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a woman has parental rights to a 6-year-old boy born to her ex-wife when the two were married, in a case watched by gay rights activists and groups aiding in vitro fertilization. Christina “Chris” Strickland brought the appeal, challenging a lower court decision that an anonymous sperm donor still had …

New York City Pride today announced that tennis legend and LGBT activist Billie Jean King will be the grand marshal of this year’s Pride parade. As someone said just now on my Facebook page, “Take THAT, Margaret Court!” Rather interestingly, this year’s parade will also reverse its traditional direction. From the press release: This year’s NYC Pride March also undergoes …

Bloomberg reports: The U.S. Supreme Court left intact a Mississippi law that lets businesses and government workers refuse on religious grounds to provide services to gay and transgender people. The justices turned away two appeals by state residents and organizations that contended the measure violates the Constitution. A federal appeals court said the opponents hadn’t suffered any injury that would …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will not review the Lambda Legal case on behalf of Jameka Evans, a Savannah security guard who was harassed at work and forced from her job because she is a lesbian. “By declining to hear this case, the Supreme Court is delaying the inevitable and leaving a …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Yesterday Kentucky Family Court Judge W. Mitchell Nance notified Governor Matthew G. Bevin and the Commonwealth of Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission of his resignation. In May, Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, Kentucky’s Fairness Campaign, and University of Louisville Law Professor Sam Marcosson filed a complaint against Judge Nance …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Of course it is important and right that the Department of Justice assist in bringing to justice the murderer of Kedarie/Kandicee Johnson, one of the far too many transgender people, and especially transgender people of color, targeted in the ongoing lethal epidemic of hate violence. But it is the height of cynicism for Attorney …

The Associated Press reports: Some of America’s most well-known companies are urging the Supreme Court to rule that a federal employment discrimination law prohibits discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation, a position opposite of the one taken by the Trump administration. The 76 businesses and organizations – including American Airlines, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Starbucks and Microsoft – filed …

Politico reports: A pair of advocacy groups said Monday they are going to court to overturn the Trump administration’s ban on transgender troops serving in the military, in the latest legal assault on the controversial directive. The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of five transgender service members. The lawsuit, filed by the Maryland branch of the ACLU, …

The Associated Press reports: A federal appeals court says Mississippi can start enforcing a law that will let merchants and government employees cite religious beliefs to deny services to same-sex couples. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed a judge’s decision that had blocked the law before it could take effect last July. U.S. District Judge Carlton …

Politico reports: The LGBT legal advocacy group Lambda Legal is opening a new Washington office in an expansion aimed at ratcheting up a fight against the Trump administration for which they’re planning to raise an additional $25 million over the next four years, on top of their existing budget. The office will be run by Sharon McGowan, who was until …

NBC News reports: One Mississippi family’s pain and grief after losing a loved one was compounded when the local funeral home suddenly refused to perform their relative’s cremation because he was gay. Robert Huskey passed away in May 2016 after his heart condition worsened over the previous year. Knowing that his death was imminent, Huskey’s nephew had made arrangements with …

HUGE. The Associated Press reports: A federal appeals court in Chicago on Tuesday ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act also protects LGBT employees from workplace discrimination, the first time a federal appellate court has come to that conclusion. The decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes after it threw out a July finding by three of …

“Jefferson Airplane band’s now 77 year-old lead singer Grace Slick has announced that the money she receives from the use of her song in a Chick-fil-A ad (bought by an ad agency) will go to fund LGBTQ causes. What I want Grace and others to know is that Almighty God created and defined marriage in His Word. Any sexual relationship …

Billboard Magazine reports: Leave it to Grace Slick to make an activist statement by saying “yes” to use of Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” in an ad for fast food chain Chick-fil-A. The co-founder of Starship’s predecessor, 1960s psychedelic group Jefferson Airplane, Slick has penned an op-ed explaining her decision to authorize a license of the 1987 hit to …

From a joint statement issued this afternoon by the ACLU and Lambda Legal: “H.B. 2 was an unprecedented attack on the LGBT community, in particular against transgender people, and we are encouraged that its days are numbered,” said Sarah Gillooly, Policy Director for the ACLU of North Carolina. “It is imperative that the General Assembly hold up their end of …