U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder granted a motion for preliminary injunction brought by attorneys for three transgender plaintiffs asserting a Title IX challenge to North Carolina’s bathroom bill, H.B.2. Carcano v. McCrory, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114605 (M.D. N.C., August 26, 2016). Finding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their Title IX challenge in his district court because he was bound by the 4th Circuit Court of … <Read More>
Lambda Legal
Illinois Supreme Court Rejects Equitable Distribution Rights in Breakup of Lesbian Couple
Reversing a ruling by the state’s court of appeals, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled on August 18 that the state’s statutory prohibition of common law marriage, enacted a century ago, still “precludes unmarried cohabitants [including same-sex couples] from bringing claims against one another to enforce mutual property rights where the rights asserted are rooted in a marriage-like relationship between the parties.” Although two different panels of the state’s intermediate court of appeals have rejected this … <Read More>
A Flood of New Litigation on LGBT Rights
May has brought a flood of litigation over LGBT rights in the federal courts. During the first few days of the month, half a dozen federal lawsuits were filed addressing either the transgender bathroom issue or continuing state-level resistance to marriage equality.
First out of the box was a lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago on May 4 by two right-wing litigation groups – The Thomas More Society and the Alliance Defending Freedom – … <Read More>
New Judge Rules for Plaintiffs in Puerto Rico Marriage Equality Case
On April 7, U.S. District Judge Gustavo A. Gelpi issued an order declaring the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s statutory ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional in the case of Conde-Vidal v. Padilla. This was a bit of an anti-climax, since the state government had been complying with the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling since last summer while awaiting some action in the lawsuit pending in federal court, but the pathway to the April 7 Order was … <Read More>
North Carolina H.B. 2 Draws ACLU/Lambda Lawsuit and Numerous Protest Actions
Within days of Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, signing into law H.B. 2, an “emergency measure” that passed with unanimous support of the Republicans in the North Carolina legislature to restrict public restroom access for transgender people and preempt localities from legislating on LGBT rights, the ACLU’s national LGBT Rights Project and its North Carolina affiliate in collaboration with the Atlanta office of Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for … <Read More>
Federal Judge in Puerto Rico Claims Obergefell v. Hodges Does Not Apply There
In an astonishing departure from established precedents, U.S. District Judge Juan M. Perez-Gimenez of the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico, who had dismissed a marriage equality lawsuit on October 21, 2014, has issued a new decision on March 8, 2016, Vidal v. Garcia-Padilla, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29651, asserting that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on June 26, 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, that the 14th Amendment of the … <Read More>
Lambda Legal’s Wisconsin Birth Certificate Litigation Hits Speed Bump
Lambda Legal’s federal lawsuit seeking to compel Wisconsin officials to issue appropriate birth certificates for children of married same-sex couples hit a speed bump on December 16 when U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb denied Lambda’s motion for class certification and summary judgment in Torres v. Rhoades, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169965, 2015 WL 9304584 (W.D. Wis.). Lambda sued on behalf of plaintiffs Chelsea Torres and Jessamy Torres and their minor child, A.T. A.T. … <Read More>
Civil Rights Through Administrative Action: Can It Be Effective?
When legislatures refuse to act on proposals to protect LGBT people from discrimination, can civil rights agencies and executive officials just go ahead and extend the protection on their own? Some recent events put this question sharply into play.
In July 2014, President Obama signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to adopt policies banning discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity and extending protection against gender identity discrimination to applicants and employees in … <Read More>
LGBT Legal Organizations Call for Decriminalization of Sex Work as Federal Government Initiates Prosecution of Rentboy.com’s Owner and Employees
On August 20, leading LGBT rights legal organizations in the United States issued a joint statement supporting Amnesty International’s August 11 Resolution that advocates for the human rights of sex workers, including repeal of laws against prostitution. Just days later, on August 25, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) raided the New York City offices of Rentboy.com, the world’s largest on-line escorting website, carted away boxes of business records and computers, and arrested the … <Read More>
Puerto Rico Urges Reversal of Anti-Marriage Equality Ruling
In an unusual turnabout, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, respondent in Lambda Legal’s appeal of the anti-marriage equality ruling in Conde-Vidal v. Garcia-Padilla, 2014 WL 5361987 (D. P.R., Oct. 21, 2014), is urging the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the district court’s ruling that dismissed the challenge to the Commonwealth’s ban on licensing or recognizing same-sex marriages.
Lambda Legal sued on behalf of several same-sex couples seeking either to marry in Puerto Rico … <Read More>