|
Links to States/Regions:
California, Georgia,
Illinois,
Massachusetts, New England,
New York,
North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
Texas, & Washington,
Washington DC |
|
National Organizations |
|
The ACLU brought the very first
lawsuit seeking marriage for
same-sex couples in 1972, but recent
advances have motivated anti-gay
activists like never before, and
they are pushing for constitutional
amendments that forever ban marriage
and civil unions for same-sex
couples. Amendments have already
passed in 20 states and are on the
ballots this November in 8 more. As
the nation prepares to vote, join us
at the
ACLU Membership Conference to
talk to members of Congress about
marriage for same-sex couples. Find
out what you can do for this
important civil rights battle. This
is our democracy, our America. We
must not stand on the sidelines
while our leaders in government put
out the light of American values. |
|
|
|
|
Get ALL Your Ducks in a Row with
Free and Affordable Legal Documents from Rainbow Law!
This site
is dedicated to the legal rights of gay men and lesbians, the LGBT
community, people in same-sex and/or homosexual relationships, their
families and children.
We
advocate for equal legal benefits, rights and protections for gay
lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and queer people (LGBTQ) .
We link
to RainbowLaw.com a site that creates estate planning documents like
last wills, living trusts, advance directives (durable power of
attorney, living wills, powers of attorney for health care -- with
hospital visitation), and documents that protect the right to parent
children like sperm donor contracts and parenting agreements.
We also
advocate for gay marriage, gay rights, same sex marriage, equal
marriage, marriage equality, domestic partner benefits and civil unions.
|
|
GayLawNet®
is dedicated to providing general information, news and resources
concerning the law as it affects the global gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transsexual and intersex (GLBTI) community and the simplest access to a
gay or lesbian (or gay or lesbian-friendly) lawyer. |
|
A selective,
annotated guide to the best and most
authoritative resources on politics, law, and
policy. Designed for students, scholars,
teachers, journalists, activists, and citizens.
Maintained by Steve Sanders, of University of
Michigan Law School, and hosted by Indiana
University. |
|
|
|
GAY RIGHTS INFO Highly useful site maintained by Bill Myers that includes congressional
and state legislator voting records, extensive information on state laws
and policies, court decisions, employer information and other unique or
hard-to-find resources. |
|
HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS AROUND THE WORLD
The politician links below
will take you to other web sites. They are not part of the Gay
Rights Info web site, you will need to use your browser back button to
return to this page. These links will take you to the most informative
sites I could find on each of these people. Some of the links will not
have much information, but they will serve to let you know that the
member is still in office.
|
| In April 1993, twenty-five lesbian and gay
judges and judicial officers met in suburban Washington, D.C.
and formed the International Association of Lesbian and Gay
Judges. Those twenty-five came from California, the District
of Columbia, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York
and Oregon.
The objectives of the Association, adopted at that meeting,
are:
- To provide an opportunity for judicial officers to meet
and exchange views and to promote education among its
members and among the general public on legal and judicial
issues related to the gay and lesbian community.
- To increase the visibility of lesbian and gay judicial
officers so as to serve as role models for other lesbian and
gay people and to bring to the attention of the general
public the prominence of these judicial officers.
- To aid in ensuring the equal treatment of all persons
who appear in a courtroom, as a litigant, attorney, juror,
staff person or in any other capacity.
- To coordinate the sharing of information between lesbian
and gay judicial officers and others in the gay community or
the general community.
- To serve as a resource for other lesbians and gay men
who are interested in seeking judicial office.
|
|
|
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to
achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals, the transgendered, and people with HIV or AIDS through
impact litigation, education, and public policy work. |
|
- Sponsors Annual Gay and Lesbian Criminal Justice
Conference
- Maintains
LEGAL-List
Internet discussion list
- Quarterly Newsletter for members groups
- Maintains a file section on the QRD
|
|
The Magnus
Hirschfeld Centre
for Human Rights
The
Magnus Hirschfeld Centre for Human Rights is a
non-governmental, non-profit, voluntary organization founded by activist
Bill Courson in 1986 and engaged in the promotion of human rights and
civil liberties under international law.
Its mandate places a special emphasis on its work in connection with
defending and promoting the human rights of vulnerable minority
communities and persons placed on the margins of power in society: i.e.,
women, children, minority ethnic, racial, religious and linguistic
groups, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans-gendered and HIV-positive
persons, inter alia.
Employing both its own resources and those of other human rights
advocacy organizations, the Centre acts as or in conjunction with the
legal representative of individuals and groups of individuals within the
foregoing communities whose rights under international human rights law
have been violated. The Centre has appeared in such a capacity before a
number of international and regional tribunals. |
|
|
|
National Lesbian and Gay Law Association (NLGLA)
is a national association of lawyers, judges and other legal
professionals, law students, activists and affiliated lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and intersex legal organizations. Established in
1988. An affiliate of the American Bar Association. Promotes justice in
and through the legal profession for the LGBT community. |
|
Queer Legal Resources The
Queer Resources
Directory has one of the most
extensive collection of materials devoted to queer legal issues on the
Internet. |
|
queerlaw -- Sexual Orientation and the Law
QueerLaw is a moderated electronic mailing list
devoted to discussion, analysis and promulgation of queer legal theory
and all other aspects of sexual orientation and The Law.
The idea
behind the list is to facilitate discussion between a diverse number of
assorted groups ranging from law professors and law students to
individuals interested in how The Law affects, and is affected by,
sexual minorities. |
Sex Laws Worldwide (General and Heterosexual/Straight)
|
|
Southern Poverty Law Center - A nonprofit
organization that combats hate, intolerance and discrimination through education and
litigation. Its programs include the Intelligence Project, Teaching Tolerance and Tolerance.org. The Center also sponsors the Civil Rights Memorial which celebrates the
memory of those who died during the Civil Rights Movement. |
|
Mission
The Transgender Law Center
(TLC) is a civil rights organization
advocating for transgender communities. Every day we
connect transgender people and their families to
technically sound and culturally competent legal
services, increase acceptance and enforcement of
laws and policies that support California's
transgender communities, and work to change laws and
systems that fail to incorporate the needs and
experiences of transgender people.
TLC utilizes direct legal
services, public policy advocacy, and educational
opportunities to advance the rights and safety of
diverse transgender communities. TLC uses the term
“transgender” to represent all of the innumerable
genders and forms of gender expression that fall within
and outside of stereotypical gender norms. TLC also
understands, acknowledges, and resists non-gender based
oppressions which limit people's ability to live in
peace. |
|
|
|
|
  
About Us
|
|
|
|
The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law
and Public Policy is a think tank dedicated to the field of
sexual orientation law and public policy. The Institute supports
legal scholarship, legal research, policy analysis, and
education regarding sexual orientation discrimination and other
legal issues that affect lesbian and gay people. The Williams
Institute originated with the recognition that issues central to
sexual orientation law have profound implications for the
development of the law and public policy in general. Drawing on
the intellectual and material resources of UCLA, one of the
world's leading research universities, the Williams Institute
provides a national center for the interdisciplinary exploration
of these issues by scholars, judges, practitioners, advocates,
and students. |
|
|
State & Local Organizations |
|
California |
|
Bay Area Lawyers
for Individual Freedom (BALiF) is the nation's oldest and
largest bar association of Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, and
Transgendered Persons in the Field of Law. Founded in 1980, BALiF
represents its members interests in the San Francisco Bay Area. |
|
 About
LGLA
: Mission Statement
|
In exercising our strength as a Bar Association,
our mission is to provide a strong leadership
presence of and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgendered persons in the legal profession
and in the community at large, through
education, legal advocacy, and participation in
political and civic activities and social
functions. |
|
|
|
|
MISSION
STATEMENT
The mission of
Sac L.E.G.A.L. is to
achieve equality and to provide a leadership presence for
gays, lesbians and bisexuals through legal advocacy,
education and participation in professional, social and
political activities.
|
|
|
 |
|
 
|
At the Transgender Law Center, we
work with community members and allies to make
California a state in which we can all fully and
freely express our gender identities. On our site,
you'll find one of the nation's most comprehensive
collections of
resources on transgender law,
information about our
innovative projects,
and tons of other stuff. If you're in California and
have questions about our work, your rights, or the
best way to create a non-discriminatory education,
health care, employment, or business environment,
contact us
here.
|
|
|
|
Georgia |
|
Welcome!
The
Stonewall Bar Association (“SBA”)
is a professional association of attorneys, judges, law students and
other legal workers who support the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgendered people and who oppose discrimination based upon sexual
orientation. |
|
Illinois |
|
The
Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago
is a nonprofit membership organization that relies on
the energy of its members to be successful. It is a
professional organization of judges, attorneys, law
students, and affiliated law workers. The organization
has five purposes:
— to provide opportunities for members of the lesbian
and gay legal community to meet in a supportive,
professional atmosphere to exchange ideas and
information;
— to further the professional development of gay and
lesbian legal workers; to educate the public, the legal
profession, and the courts about legal issues of
particular concern to lesbians and gay men;
— to empower members of the gay and lesbian communities
by improving access to the legal and judicial system and
sponsoring education programs;
— and to promote and encourage the advancement of
lesbians and gay men in the legal profession.
|
|
|
Massachusetts |
|
The
Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association (MLGBA)
is a voluntary state-wide professional association of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgendered lawyers and our allies providing a visible
LGBT presence within the Massachusetts legal community. Law students,
paralegals and other members of the legal profession are encouraged to
become non-voting associate members. |
|
|
|
New England |
|
 Founded in 1978,
GLAD - Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders is
New England’s leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending
discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender
identity and expression. Providing litigation, advocacy, and educational
work in all areas of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights
and the rights of people living with HIV, GLAD has a full-time legal
staff and a network of cooperating attorneys across New England.
When we go to court, we go there to win. But regardless of the
outcome, each time we argue a case, we make a statement that chips away
at outdated laws, challenges stereotypes, and helps further our cause:
to ensure equal justice under law for all.
The commitment to individual dignity and freedom is an intrinsic part
of the American experience, yet for many of us, the way we are treated
by society reflects a very different reality. GLAD has sought to create an American society true to its founding
principles that all people are created equal and endowed with certain
inalienable rights. |
|
New York |
|
 
|
|
Lesbian/Gay Law Notes Thanks to the hard work of Art Leonard the QRD is able to archive issues
of Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, a publication of the Lesbian and Gay
Law Association of Greater New York. It is chiefly written and edited by
Professor Arthur Leonard of New York Law School. Professor Leonard has
written a brief info file on the newsletter. The most current issue
available can be found here.
In addition to the newsletter, since
1992, Professor Leonard and his students compile an annual case table
listing all the citations for cases of interest which have been
discussed in the newsletter throughout the year.
As if all this were not enough, Professor Leonard has also compiled
an AIDS legal bibliography which contains a list of every law review
article ever published which references AIDS or HIV. An amazing
resource! |
|
The
Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) works
to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine our gender
identity and expression, regardless of income, and without facing
harassment, discrimination or violence.
|
|
Judith's primary areas of practice include
non-traditional family law, (including donor
agreements, adoptions, parenting agreements),
residential real estate, advance directives
such as health care proxies and powers of
attorney as well as wills and estates with a
special emphasis on the needs of lesbians, gay
men, transgender people and others in
unrecognized or non-traditional families. Judith
has been trained in Collaborative Law and offers
this service to her clients.
In the early 1980's Judith was one of the
founding Board members of the lesbian and gay
bar association in New York, then known as Bar
Association for Human Rights (now known as
Lesbian and Gay Law
Association of Greater New York or LeGaL).She
served as First Vice President, as well as Chair
of the Education Committee and Co-Chair of the
Pro Bono Committee.
|
|
|
North Carolina |
|
North Carolina Gay and Lesbian
Attorneys
A
voluntary state-wide non-profit attorneys' organization, providing
visibility, support, and advocacy for LGBT communities.
|
|
Pennsylvania |
|
|
|
Texas |
|
Nechman, Simoneaux, and Frye,
PLLC - ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW - On May 1, 2004,
history took place in Houston, Texas when Nechman, Simoneaux, and
Frye, PLLC, opened as the first law firm in the nation with a full
partner who is an out transgender person—Phyllis Randolph Frye.
Frye is one of America’s most well known attorneys and activists on gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues and a former professor at
Thurgood Marshall School of Law in the area of consumer rights and
deceptive trade practices. She was instrumental in striking down a
Houston ordinance on cross-dressing, gained fame as a tenacious and
superb criminal defense attorney and helped take the case of Littleton
v. Prang to the doors of the US Supreme Court.Their outreach will be to the LGBTIS community. That is, to
attract clients in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and
supportive straight communities. |
|
|
TRANSGENDERLEGAL.COM |
| TRANSGENDER
LEGAL was created to accelerate the legal freedom of
transgenders!
Transgenders include, but
are not limited to, part-time crossdressers and full-time
transsexuals. This site is dedicated to assist them and any
other person who expresses any type of actual or perceived
gender presentation which is at variance with bipolar, socially
assigned, gender presentations or gender identifications.
TRANSGENDER LEGAL is the
official web site for Phyllis Randolph Frye, Esq., of Houston,
Texas, USA. This site includes most of the two-plus decades of
her writings and other items that she has produced in her quest
for individual freedom and for freedom of her people. |
|
|
Washington |
|
|
QLaw:
The GLBT Bar Association of Washington is an
association of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
(GLBT) legal professionals and their friends. QLaw serves as
a voice for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender lawyers
in the state of Washington on issues relating to diversity
and equality in the legal profession, in the courts, and
under the law. The organization has five purposes:
·
to provide opportunities for members of the GLBT legal
community to meet in a supportive, professional atmosphere
to exchange ideas and information;
·
to further the professional development of GLBT legal
professionals and law students;
·
to educate the public, the legal profession, and the courts
about legal issues of particular concern to the GLBT
community;
·
to empower members of the GLBT community by improving access to
the legal and judicial system and sponsoring education
programs;
·
and to promote and encourage the advancement of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender attorneys in the legal profession. |
|
|
Washington DC |
|
| Founded in 1990,
GAYLAW is an independent, non-partisan bar association
serving gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender lawyers, law
students, and legal professionals in the national capital
area. GAYLAW works to advance the interests of the GLBT
community, to be their voice within the legal community, and to
improve their professional lives. A member of the National
Lesbian and Gay Law Association, GAYLAW acts in coalition with
other local and national groups dedicated to GLBT concerns. |
|
