Lambda Legal: Historic LGBTQ+ Legal Organization Celebrates 50 Years During Pride Month Nationwide

Organization's Community Activation and Involvement Occurs at a Time of Renewed Urgency as Legal Non-profit Marks 50th Anniversary

New York / Los Angeles, June 5, 2023 - Lambda Legal is proud to celebrate Pride Month this June by participating in events across the county, celebrating the diversity and resilience of the LGBTQ+ community and everyone living with HIV, and reaffirming our unwavering dedication to advancing legal rights as we have done for the past 50 years nationwide.

"Pride Month is a reminder of our unprecedented past, unwavering present and unstoppable future," said Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal. "We look forward to celebrating our ongoing movement for justice and equality with events across the county in June that will bring together and activate our allies and supporters from coast to coast. Now more than ever, the LGBTQ+ community must stand up and fight for our rights. Lambda Legal has been there since 1973 and stands strong now to speak out against discrimination and to advocate fiercely for our entire LGBTQ+ community and everyone living with HIV. Please join us as we look to the next 50 years of our movement for justice and equality."

Lambda Legal will participate in local pride events to inform, motivate, and inspire through:

• Discussion and information sharing of Lambda Legal's ongoing case work in each city and state where it will have a presence at Pride to combat the cruel, sustained, despicable and ignorant attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and especially transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people;
• Sponsorship and support of Pride marches and festivals via booth sponsorship with a selfie station for social media engagement at certain locations;
• Community and social media engagement through the hashtag: #UnstoppablePride; and,
• Representation via our partnership with out NASCAR Driver Zach Herrin, whose sport itself represents our unstoppable community, including a Lambda Legal parade contingent with Herrin's actual race car in certain locations.

As we honor the legacy of the Stonewall uprising of 1969 and the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ rights since our founding 50 years ago in 1973, we are reminded of the power of community and the importance of coming together to fight for justice and equality. Throughout Pride Month, Lambda Legal will partner with allies and community organizations in various cities across the country to celebrate and uplift the LGBTQ+ community by participating in parades and events, holding educational forums, and amplifying the voices of our LGBTQ+ community and of everyone living with HIV.

Lambda Legal's schedule of in-person Pride commitments in 2023 include:

• New York City - Activist and attorney Bill Thom founded Lambda Legal in his NYC apartment and won the organization's first legal battle with the State of New York to incorporate as a not-for profit in 1973. Lambda Legal has been on the frontlines of the battle against HIV discrimination from the very beginning. In fact, we fought-and won-the nation's first AIDS discrimination case in 1983 where we represented Dr. Joseph Sonnabend. In that case, we persuaded a court to stop the efforts of neighbors to evict Dr. Sonnabend because he treated HIV-positive patients.

• Los Angeles - As the first national LGBTQ+ non-profit to open an office in two cities, Lambda Legal's second office extended its reach and impact to both coasts. Lambda Legal's work in California includes our work winning the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, drafting domestic partnership legislation, and protecting students, workers, and patients against discrimination.

• Chicago - Lambda Legal's third office brought the fight of LGBTQ+ rights to America's Heartland through community hero Bon Foster and was sustained by individuals like Windy City Times Founder Tracy Baim. Lambda Legal's work in Illinois includes a successful campaign for the freedom to marry, and advocacy with the Illinois Department of Public Health ensuring it issued an accurate birth certificate for the child of transgender couple Precious and Myles Brady-Davis.

• Indianapolis - Representative of grassroots support of the Lambda Legal mission, Hoosier volunteers knew that supporting a national legal rights organization dedicated to their community would ultimately result in laws changing at home. Lambda Legal's work in Indiana includes our successful precedent-setting lawsuit on behalf of Kim Hively, an instructor at an Indiana community college fired because she is a lesbian, our work against a proposed Indiana religious license-to-discriminate law that was ultimately defeated, and our support for a local school district sued by a former teacher over its inclusive and respectful policies regarding transgender students.

• Atlanta - As the heart of the South, local supporters have made sure that Atlanta kept its promise to be the "City Too Busy to Hate" and spread that across the region. Lambda Legal's work in Georgia includes our lawsuit on behalf of Vandy Beth Glenn, who was fired from her job with the Georgia General Assembly when she notified her supervisor of her upcoming gender transition.

• Palm Springs - Lambda Legal's work in Palm Springs and the larger Inland Empire region of California includes our advocacy on behalf of surviving same-sex partners like John Davis who were denied social security survivor's benefits.

Additional 50th Anniversary year events and activities include:

• National Liberty Awards in New York City on June 8, with special honorees Billy Porter and Urvashi Vaid, special guests Becky Pepper-Jackson and Isaiah Wilkins, and an after party produced by Susanne Bartsch;
• Celebration event in New York City on October 18;
• West Coast Liberty Awards in Los Angeles on September 21, with special honorees;
• Coffee-table book about Lambda Legal's history; and,
• Museum exhibit touring across the country with full schedule to be announced.

Lambda Legal is proud to partner with Barry's Bootcamp and their United We Spring pride campaign. More information can be found online at: https://www.barrys.com/.

"We encourage our community of supporters from all over the country to join us to celebrate our half century of legal victories that have driven profound social progress," said Jennifer Pizer, Chief Legal Officer of Lambda Legal. "Pride Month is an excellent time for us all to come together and find new courage, joy, and dedication to our entire LGBTQ+ community. Appreciating how far we've come proves yet again that truth persuades, that love rules, and that freedom, justice, and respect are the birthright of each and every one of us."

For more information about Lambda Legal and the upcoming events in your city, please visit their website here.

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education, and policy work. www.lambdalegal.org