There are many legal and political issues that the LGBT community faces in the United States that need to be continually addressed. Lambda legal is dedicated to these issues, and have been for quite some time now. They are the largest and oldest such organization in the United States and have helped the LGBT community make great strides politically and legally in the past few decades alone. Most notably of late is the Gays in the Military issue that has been at the forefront of the gay rights movement. Acceptance of homosexuality has always been an uphill battle, and Lambda Legal as well as the HRC work hard to to make it easier.

One of the longest running issues that the LGBT community has faced has been workplace discrimination. While there is a federal law in place that businesses cannot discriminate against people in their hiring process based on a persons sexual orientation, there are no laws in roughly half the states that bans workplace discrimination based on a persons sexual orientation. There needs to be an even, across the board, representation of sexual discrimination laws that cover every aspect of a persons employment. From the hiring process, to the actual time of employment, and to the time of an actual discharge of said employment. Currently there is no across-the-board, uniform policy, and we are working hard to change that.

Laws regarding family, relationships, and marriage have been a high priority of ours for going on 40 years now, with the specific issue of marriage leading the way. We have been fighting hard to protect families since the 1970’s when a lesbian mother,who was a foster mother, regained custody of her children with the help of Lambda Legal when the appropriate state agency took them away. In the same time frame we helped a father who was gay get the legal right to visit his children after a legal divorce. Same sex relationships and marriages without children have also gotten our attention and help through the years in regards to obtaining the same health benefits that heterosexual couples get. There are many different legal rights that we try to obtain for same sex partners and we have learned through the years that you have to start small if you want to get to the top of that legal hill.

The youth of our country is also a big concern for us. Bullying in general in our public schools has been on the rise lately, but with gay students this is labeled as harassment for it is based on a persons sexual orientation. Being a teenager these days is hard enough, but being a gay teenager in this society is extremely difficult, and the pressure they can feel from their peers is not only felt in school, but in out-of -home care facilities as well. We have made a lot of legal strides with the public schools in our country to make them a more safe and open environment for gay students. Out-of -home care facilities such as foster homes and juvenile detention centers are also hotbeds for sexual discrimination, and we keep active in those areas as well.

Our legal teams and political activists have been working overtime for decades now to help ensure equal rights for everyone in the LGBT community. With your financial help we will be able to do even more. Organizations such as the HRC also help make life in general for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gender individuals better on a legal and political level. For example the HRC helped in the State Departments decision to modify the application process for a child to obtain a passport. The information on the parents now ask for “father or parent 2” or “mother or parent 1”, instead of simply “father” or “mother”. We believe that the mere acknowledgment of the different family structures here in the U.S. will lead to the acceptance of them.

With your donations to help with our legal and political work, we can all help ensure a more fair and balanced way of life for us all.