Press Releases

Today the full U.S Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a case regarding the New York adoption of a Louisiana-born baby boy by a same-sex couple after the state of Louisiana denied the child an accurate birth certificate reflecting both of his parents.

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

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.

A federal judge has requested the U.S. Department of Justice to explain how it plans to defend denying spousal health benefits to a lesbian federal employee, following an announcement yesterday by the Obama administration that it believes the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White has given government attorneys until Monday, February 28, to respond.

Lambda Legal and Morrison & Foerster LLP today told a federal judge that government attorneys have shown they have no further arguments and therefore no further legal barrier exists to a married lesbian federal employee receiving spousal health benefits already provided to her heterosexual co-workers. U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys had argued that, among other reasons, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibits the employer-provided medical insurance that Karen Golinski had requested for her spouse, Amy Cunninghis. Lambda Legal and Morrison & Foerster represent Golinski, a 19-year-employee of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In response to today's introduction in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the 1996 so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Lambda Legal National Marriage Project Director Jennifer C. Pizer issued the following statement.

(San Francisco, March 16, 2011)—A federal judge has granted a motion by government attorneys to dismiss Lambda Legal's lawsuit on behalf of a federal court employee seeking spousal health benefits for her wife, but invited the organization to file an amended complaint directly challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA.

(Los Angeles, April 4, 2011) — Lambda Legal, Knights Out, OutServe, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Anti-Defamation League today filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S.

Today Lambda Legal and Morrison & Foerster LLP filed an amended complaint challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in its case representing Karen Golinski, a federal court employee denied spousal health benefits for her wife.

In reaction to the news that the law firm King & Spalding has withdrawn from representing House leadership in cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act Lambda Legal issued the following statement from Legal Director Jon Davidson.