Tag Archives: Lambda Legal

76 Major Companies Petition SCOTUS To Back LGBT Employment Rights: Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft

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 …

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Civil Rights Groups Sue Over Trump’s Trans Ban

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, …

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BREAKING: Federal Appeals Court Gives Go-Ahead To Mississippi Law Legalizing Anti-LGBT Discrimination

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 …

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Lambda Legal Opens DC Office To Fight Trump

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 …

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MISSISSIPPI: Funeral Home Sued For Refusing To Perform Cremation Of 82 Year-Old Married Gay Man

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 …

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BREAKING: Federal Appeals Court Rules Civil Rights Act Protects LGBT Employees From Workplace Bias

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 …

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Franklin Graham On Grace Slick’s Donation To Lambda Legal: All Your LGBT Sins Carry A Death Sentence

“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 …

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Grace Slick: I Took Chick-Fil-A’s Ad Money For My Song Just So I Could Donate It All To Lambda Legal [VIDEO]

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 …

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LGBT Groups Condemn Repeal Of Charlotte Rights Ordinance, Demand Full Repeal Of Statewide Hate Law

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 …

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NORTH CAROLINA: Arguments Begin At Trial To Halt Enforcement Of Hate Law, Judge Skeptical Of HB2

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: A federal judge expressed skepticism on Monday that North Carolina lawmakers were solving a legitimate safety problem when they passed a law in spring that bans many transgender people from restrooms in government facilities that match their gender identity. US District Court Judge Thomas D. Schroeder also seemed flummoxed at one point by how the …

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NORTH CAROLINA: Court Date Set For Hate Law

Via press release from Lambda Legal: A federal court has scheduled the trial in a legal challenge to North Carolina’s sweeping anti-LGBT law, House Bill 2, to begin on Monday, November 14. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder is holding arguments on Monday, August 1, on a motion for a preliminary injunction that asks the court to stop the enforcement …

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20 Years Ago Today: Romer V Evans

Lambda Legal’s Jon Davidson put it in context for what’s happening today: To quote late New York Yankee baseball great Yogi Berra, “it’s déjà vu all over again.” Today marks the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Romer v. Evans, Lambda Legal’s successful challenge, in partnership with the ACLU and some of Colorado’s top lawyers, to …

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NORTH CAROLINA: Lambda Legal & ACLU Ask Federal Court To Stop Enforcement Of Anti-LGBT Hate Law

Via press release: The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of North Carolina, and Lambda Legal today asked a federal court to order an immediate halt to enforcement of a North Carolina law that targets transgender people for discrimination in single-sex facilities. The three organizations and the law firm of Jenner and Block are challenging the law, House Bill 2, …

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NORTH CAROLINA: Pro-LGBT Groups Urge AG Loretta Lynch To Threaten School Funding Over Hate Law

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: The country’s top LGBT legal organizations urged federal officials on Thursday to make it clear that passing anti-LGBT laws like one in North Carolina will jeopardize their federal education funding. In their letter to White House counsel Neil Eggleston and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the five groups write, “This administration must make definitively clear …

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BREAKING: North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper Refuses To Defend Against LGBT Rights Lawsuit

Minutes ago Buzzfeed News reported that Democratic North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will not defend the constitutionality of his state’s newly-enacted anti-LGBT law. Cooper is running for governor against incumbent Pat McCrory, who has issued lie-filled statements in support of the law, which excludes LGBT citizens statewide from all discrimination protections. Story developing. See the tweets below from Buzzfeed’s …

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North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory Denounces LGBT Rights Lawsuit: Stop Slandering Our Great State

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is a very unhappy with the lawsuit filed yesterday. From a statement issued by his office: “The governor respects the right of any legal challenges; however, he does not respect the continued distortion of the facts by the groups challenging this law and by many members of the state and national media,” said Graham Wilson, …

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Meet The North Carolina Plaintiffs [VIDEOS]

Yesterday a press conference was held at which the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against North Carolina appeared. Watch below. The Associated Press reports: The plaintiffs are two transgender people, a lesbian law professor, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and Equality North Carolina. Defendants include McCrory and the University of North Carolina system, where two of the …

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The Lawsuit Against North Carolina Has Been Filed

Early this morning North Carolina was sued in federal court over the recently signed law which overturns LGBT rights statewide and bans transgender citizens from using public facilities that align with their gender identity. The suit was filed on behalf of three individuals and two LGBT rights groups. Buzzfeed News has details: “By singling out LGBT people for disfavored treatment …

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Legal Groups To North Carolina: Get Ready For Lawsuits

Via press release: Today, Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of North Carolina, and Equality North Carolina condemned North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signing into law a sweeping anti-LGBT measure, HB 2, and announced that the organizations are exploring legal challenges to the discriminatory law. “We expect the ACLU’s and Lambda Legal’s Legal Help Desks will light …

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LGBT Groups React TO SCOTUS Nominee

From Lambda Legal: “With President Obama’s nomination of Judge Garland to the Supreme Court, we call upon members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to fulfill their constitutional duty and ensure Judge Garland is given a complete and timely review. We encourage them to ask comprehensive and probing questions to evaluate Judge Garland’s ability to be a fair and impartial member …

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