Judi O'Kelley
Southern Regional Director
CONTACT: Southern Regional Office, 404-897-1880
Judi O'Kelley is the Southern Regional Director for Lambda Legal, the nation's oldest and largest legal organization dedicated to the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV.
Judi brings more than 15 years of political and legal experience working for equality within the LGBT community. In 2004, she served as President and Campaign Chair for Northeast Georgians Against Discrimination, the campaign for the Athens, GA area in opposition to Georgia's constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions. She also was the lead plaintiff from 2004-2006 in the case of O'Kelley v. Perdue, in which Lambda Legal, the Georgia ACLU, and the law firm of Alston & Bird sought to strike down the anti-marriage amendment.
Judi was the founding President of Just Equal, the Athens-area political group dedicated to ending discrimination against individuals and families based upon sexual orientation and gender identity, and is a member of the team, which successfully lobbied for non-discrimination protections and domestic partnership benefit programs for Athens-Clarke County employees in 2006. She is a past member of Georgia Equality's Political Action Committee, and is a cofounder of Athens Pride, a coalition of 17 Athens-area LGBT-allied groups. In 2001, Judi received the Georgia Stonewall Bar Association's Conspicuous Service award for her work in drafting and lobbying for Atlanta's comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance. While a summer associate in law school with Sullivan & Cromwell, she contributed to legal briefs involving the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" restrictions.
As a part of her commitment to equality, Judi has a passion for issues concerning family, children and women. She is a certified Court Appointed Special Advocate, has served as President of the Athens-Oconee CASA program, and has sat on the Executive Committee of the boards of the Athens Justice Project and the Jeannette Rankin Foundation.
Judi received her B.A. from the Colorado College in 1990. She served as a legislative aide in the Alaska State Legislature during the 1990s, and headed the Alaska absentee voting program through several statewide and national election cycles. After receiving her J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1996, she served as a law clerk for Judge James L. Oakes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and practiced appellate and employment law with the firms of Jones, Day; Kirkley & Payne; and Penn Payne, LLP. She is admitted to practice in the state bars of Georgia, Alaska, and Washington, D.C.
January 5, 2006
