Press Releases

In response to today’s Senate vote that sets the stage for an end to the U.S. military’s 17-year-old “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy barring gays and lesbians from serving openly, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Executive Director Kevin Cathcart.

The state of Arizona has no valid reason for placing its lesbian and gay employees on a lower pay scale than heterosexuals, Lambda Legal today told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The oral arguments were part of a case to block a law stripping domestic partner benefits from gay and lesbian state employees.

After the Iowa House of Representatives voted 62-37 in favor of a bill banning marriage and any other form of relationship recognition for same-sex couples, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Senior Staff Attorney Camilla Taylor

Lawyers for the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives (BLAG) informed U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White that they "prefer not" to participate in a pilot project to video-tape oral arguments at an October 21, 2011 hearing in Golinski v OPM, a federal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Jon Davidson, Legal Director at Lambda Legal, issued the following statement regarding today's decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals vacating an earlier U.S. District Court ruling declaring "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) unconstitutional.

In response to today's procedural ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal permitting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to remain temporarily in effect during an appeal, Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Staff Attorney Peter Renn:

(New York, October 12, 2011)—Frank Kameny, Harvard-trained astronomer, Army veteran, and lifelong advocate for LGBT equality, died yesterday at 86. Fired from his federal job simply for being gay, Kameny argued what is believed to be the first civil rights claim in a U.S. court based on sexual orientation.

This morning the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California heard oral arguments on a motion filed by Prop 8 proponents seeking to overturn Judge Walker's ruling striking down Prop 8 as unconstitutional because he has been in a relationship with another man for 10 years.

In reaction to the Department of Justice today filing a request that the Supreme Court hear the Golinski v. OPM case challenging the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Lambda Legal issued the following statement from  Staff Attorney Tara Borelli:

(Birmingham, AL, February 20, 2009) — At the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama late yesterday, Lambda Legal joined a lawsuit on behalf of Central Alabama Pride (CAP) against Mayor Larry Langford who interfered with their right to free speech last summer when he directed city workers to treat the group differently than other groups are treated.