Lambda Legal
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| Headquarters | New York City, New York |
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| Website | www.lambdalegal.org |
Lambda Legal (Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund) is a United States civil rights organization that focuses on gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.
Lambda's founder William J. Thom, Esq. submitted incorporation papers for approval to the New York Courts in 1971, but his application was denied on the grounds that its proposed activities would be contrary to public policy. That decision was later overturned in a 1973 decision by the New York Court of Appeals, which is the highest court of New York State. (In re Thom, 301 N.E.2d 542 (N.Y. 1973).).
The original incorporators, in addition to Bill Thom, were E. Carrington Boggan, and Michael J. Lavery. At their first meeting on November 10, 1973, they elected to the newly constituted Board of Directors Rodney L. Eubanks, Shepherd Raimi and D. Nicholas Russo.[1]
Because of the scarcity of openly gay lawyers in 1973, Lambda Legal also formed a Board of Advisors of prominent people sympathetic to the cause of gay rights. They included US Congressperson Bella Abzug, NY State Senator Carol Bellamy, Association of the Bar President Merrell E. Clark, Rev. John Corn of Trinity Church and Martin Duberman, Distinguished Professor at City University of New York.[1] Also on the Board of Advisors were two lawyers who later became New York State Supreme Court Justices: Phyllis Gangel-Jacob and the late Shirley Fingerhood.
From inception, seeking diversity on its Board of Directors, Lambda Legal sought women but could find no lesbian lawyers at that time who were willing or able to be openly associated with a gay activist organization. As a result, Nathalie Rockhill, a major figure in the early post-Stonewall days of Gay Liberation, was added to the Board in 1974. She was followed by lesbian law students and, in time, by lesbian lawyers.[2]
Lambda's growth paralleled the growth of the gay movement; by the 1980s, with the advent of AIDS, gay awareness and activism had grown significantly. Thomas B. Stoddard, who was executive director from 1986 to 1992, helped to author a bill passed in 1986 by the New York City Council to protect gays against bias in housing, employment, and public accommodations. Mayor Ed Koch, who signed the bill enacting it into law said: "The legislation drafted by Tom Stoddard was perfect." In 1993, Stoddard and other national gay leaders met with president Bill Clinton, the first such delegation to meet inside the Oval Office.[3]
Its national headquarters remain in New York City, but today has regional offices in Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, Illinois, Dallas, Texas, and Los Angeles, California.
The current executive director is Kevin M. Cathcart.
Lambda Legal has played a role in many legal cases in the United States pertaining to gay rights, including the 6-3 United States Supreme Court's 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which invalidated sodomy laws.
Lambda Legal carries out its legal work principally through test cases selected for the likelihood of their success in establishing positive legal precedents that will affect lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those affected by HIV. Lambda Legal's staff of attorneys works on a wide range of cases, with their docket averaging more than 50 cases at any given time.
Lambda Legal also maintains a national network of volunteer Cooperating Attorneys, which widens the scope of their legal work and allows attorneys, legal workers and law students to become involved in the program by working with Lambda Legal's legal staff.
Lambda Legal pursues litigation in all parts of the country, in every area of the law that affects communities they represent, such as discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and the military; HIV/AIDS-related discrimination and public policy issues; parenting and relationship issues; equal marriage rights; equal employment and domestic partnership benefits; "sodomy" law challenges; immigration issues; anti-gay initiatives; and free speech and equal protection rights.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b "Minutes of the Combined Organizational Meeting and of the First Meeting of the Members and First Meeting of Directors", Lambda Legal, November 10, 1973
- ^ Primary source - original board member, Shepherd Raimi, July 23, 2008
- ^ Thomas Stoddard, 48, Dies; An Advocate of Gay Rights, New York Times, February 14, 1997
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Duberman Letter July 26, 1973
- Original Press Release October 31, 1973
- Lambda Legal Overview October 31, 1973
- Minutes of the Combined Organizational Meeting and of the First Meeting of the Members and First Meeting of Directors November 10, 1973
- Minutes of Board of Directors' Meeting April 10, 1974
- Minutes of Board of Directors' Meeting May 1, 1974
- Minutes of Board of Directors' Meeting September 4, 1974
- Early Contributors to Lambda 1973-1974
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