LGBT Bar Joins Marouf v. Azar as Organizational Plaintiff

Washington, D.C. - The LGBT Bar has been named as an organizational plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal and Hogan Lovells US LLP against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

In late February, Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit against HHS and the USCCB on behalf of Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin, a married lesbian couple who were denied the opportunity even to apply to serve as foster parents for refugee children by a USCCB affiliate because, they were told, they did not “mirror the Holy Family.” HHS funds the program that turned away Marouf and Esplin exclusively with taxpayer money. HHS funded USCCB to perform federal child welfare services through its affiliates even though USCCB made clear that it would use the funds to deny such services to members of the public based on USCCB’s religious beliefs.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims HHS is violating the Establishment, Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the U.S Constitution by allowing USCCB to impose a religious test governing the provision of federal child welfare services. USCCB, which receives millions of dollars in grant funding from HHS through the Office of Refugee Resettlement to assist with the federal government’s Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program and the Unaccompanied Alien Child Program, is responsible for identifying eligible children in need of services, and providing foster care services for these children, including placement in homes that serve their best interests.

The National LGBT Bar Association is proud to join Marouf v. Azar and to stand on behalf of our membership as a plaintiff in this lawsuit. The LGBT Bar is an organization composed of almost 1,500 LGBT and ally legal professionals and law students; our members work every day to promote justice in and outside of the court, and object to their government funding anti-LGBT discrimination. The National LGBT Bar Association also hosts a 200 member-strong family practitioner gathering which addresses cutting-edge issues of LGBT family law.

"In these troubling times, the National LGBT Bar Association is proud to represent concerned members of our organization in this important challenge to discrimination in LGBT family formation. American taxpayers should not have to see their government support organizations that blatantly demean and devalue their identities and their most intimate relationships. We are especially proud to be represented by Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of rights for the LGBT community, and by Hogan Lovells US LLP, a longtime supporter of the National LGBT Bar Association."
- D'Arcy Kemnitz, Executive Director, The National LGBT Bar Association

“This is an important development in our lawsuit and indicative of the impact of Fatma’s and Bryn’s story on the LGBT community nationwide and the real harms that come when the U.S. government funds programs that grant a religious license to discriminate,” Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Kenneth Upton said. “To have the National LGBT Bar Association join this lawsuit as an organizational plaintiff underscores the importance to the LGBT legal profession of a level playing field that allows committed and loving same-sex couples and LGBT individuals to serve as foster parents for refugee children who are at their most vulnerable, many of them who may be LGBT themselves. The government cannot put its thumb on the scale with our taxpayer dollars to favor some religious views over the best interests of these children.”
- Kenneth D. Upton, Jr., Senior Counsel, Lambda Legal

The Lambda Legal attorneys working on the case are Camilla B. Taylor, Kenneth D. Upton, Jr., and Jamie Gliksberg. They are joined by pro bono co-counsel Ken Choe, Jessica L. Ellsworth, Alali Dagogo-Jack, Jennifer A. Fleury, and James A. Huang of Hogan Lovells.