Press Releases

(San Francisco, February 28, 2011) — The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that it will continue to deny spousal health insurance benefits to a lesbian federal employee, in spite of last week’s announcement that Attorney General Eric Holder has determined that the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional and that DOJ therefore will no longer defend it against court challenges.

(New York, February 25, 2011)- Today, on the heels of the Senate passage of the Civil Marriage Protection Act, Lambda Legal attorney Susan Sommer will testify before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee in support of the bill, which would allow same-sex couples to marry within the state.

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 the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai`i (ACLU) applaud Hawai`i Governor Neil Abercrombie's signing of SB232, which establishes civil unions for same-sex and different-sex couples in Hawai`i. The Hawai`i Senate approved the bill in an 18-5 vote on February 16. The new law takes effect on January 1, 2012.

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued a letter to state birth registrars announcing a procedure change allowing a woman to be named as a parent on the Maryland birth certificate of the child born to her same-sex married spouse, without the necessity of a court order. Lambda Legal applauds this advance for Maryland children.

Today the Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments in Lambda Legal's case defending Michele Hobbs, a lesbian mother who was denied access to her child when she and her former partner, the biological mother, ended their relationship.

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

Today Governor Quinn will sign the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act, which will go into effect June 1, 2011. To support families protected by the new law, Lambda Legal and Equality Illinois launched Civil Union Tracker.

Governor Quinn will sign civil unions into Illinois law on Monday, January 31, 2011, and spokespeople from Lambda Legal, the organization that provided significant technical and drafting support for the civil union bill, will be there and available for questions and interviews.

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.