By any measure or count, 2014 has been a banner year for The LGBT Bar and our members. This year, we expanded our programs, our member benefits and our profile within the profession. As our community makes significant strides toward full equality, The Bar is keeping pace with cutting edge educational events, networking opportunities and […]

Earlier this week, our friends at the ACLU of New Jersey announced a historic victory: For the first time, the federal government has agreed to update critical military paperwork for transgender veterans that reflects their true gender identity. As we told the New Jersey Law Journal, “This is the first time we’ve ever had anything clearly written out […]

Giving Thanks & Building the Future As our members and supporters around the United States begin their Thanksgiving celebrations, all of us at The LGBT Bar want to send our sincerest thanks for your help in making 2014 our most successful year ever. With your help, we raised the bar on our programs and member […]

As the co-author of the bill that revamped New Hampshire’s surrogacy law, I am thrilled to let you know that my state’s statutes no longer contain discriminatory provisions that made surrogacy inaccessible for many people, including gay couples. The revised law permits gestational surrogacy arrangements for all intended parents, with no discrimination based upon marital […]

Our firm was recently successful in the District of Columbia in obtaining a three parent Permanent Custodial Order, based on the District’s de facto parentage law. The Court found that there was clear and convincing evidence of one parent’s de facto parentage status, pursuant to D.C. Code Section 16-831.01(1)(B). The factors the Court considered were […]

Carrie Tongarm did not decide to attend law school until her son was born in 2008. After going through the second-parent adoption process with her partner and their lawyer, Carrie realized how difficult the process could have been without their lawyer. She realized that “I wanted to help people in that way; I wanted to […]

When Michelle Waites, Senior Patent Counsel for the Xerox Corporation, first attended Lavender Law in 2011, she did not know what to expect. It was the first conference she had attended exclusively for LGBT legal professionals and she had not been previously involved with the LGBT Bar. Michelle: “I had never been to a conference […]

The National LGBT Bar Association’s executive director, D’Arcy Kemnitz, issued the following statement regarding the passing of Philadelphia attorney David Rosenblum, a Bar member who was a co-founder of the organization’s LGBT career fair, and a past co-chair of the Lavender Law Conference: “David was an incredible advocate for our community, a staunch supporter of […]

As April 15 approaches, my family will be celebrating the unbelievable: paying more taxes. Many straight couples file their taxes under the burden of the “Marriage Penalty” and now same-sex couples — like myself and my wife — find ourselves in the same boat. We will be paying more taxes, and enjoying the resulting equality, […]

In the South, we speak slowly and always say please and thank you. Our cities are filled with folks who claim that they “have never met a stranger” – a point of pride adhering to the South’s standards of hospitality. Stemming from our strong sense of hospitality comes topics that are too taboo to discuss […]