Mission Statement
The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association and Foundation are a nationwide network of legal professionals and affiliated organizations dedicated to promoting justice and equity for the diverse LGBTQ+ community through advocacy, education, and collaboration within the legal profession.
Vision Statement
The vision of the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association is:
- To cultivate a legal profession where justice, equity, and inclusion are foundational.
- To empower LGBTQ+ individuals to thrive in the legal field.
- To cultivate a legal industry where LGBTQ+ individuals feel they belong.
- To advocate for broader societal change through collaboration and education within the legal community.
- To center our most vulnerable within the legal community.
- To confront and address the systemic oppression and biases within and outside of our own community and profession.
OUR HISTORY: The LGBTQ+ Bar was founded over thirty years ago by a small group of family law practitioners at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. In 1987, the idea of creating a gay and lesbian bar association was formally introduced at the Lesbian & Gay March on Washington. The first Lavender Law® Conference took place the following year at the Golden Gate University in San Francisco. In 1989, at the American Bar Association’s Mid-Year meeting, bylaws were presented, and a nonprofit board of directors was formalized. At the second board meeting in 1989 in Boston, the LGBTQ+ Bar, then known as the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association (NLGLA), had 293 paid members, and initiated a campaign to ask the ABA to include protection based on sexual orientation to its revision of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct for Judges. In 1992, the LGBTQ+ Bar became an official affiliate of the American Bar Association and it now works closely with the ABA’s Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities and its Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
