The United States Supreme Court is hearing our historic Tennessee marriage equality case, and our three plaintiff couples are headed to the Supreme Court! We are working as hard as we can to finally win the freedom to marry nationwide, and our Tennessee case will be a critical part of that historic victory. While we’re sure our plaintiffs have good reason to celebrate on this very special Valentine’s Day, the coming months leading up to a ruling from the Supreme Court will not be...
Our Voices
Today, NCLR is headed to a federal courtroom in Mobile, Alabama with our four plaintiff couples who are asking the court to let them marry right away. NCLR’s legal team has been working tirelessly in Alabama to make sure that same-sex couples can marry in every part of the state. Help us finish the job! Last week, NCLR successfully asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow marriage equality to begin in Alabama as scheduled on February 9, after a federal court judge struck down Alabama’s marriage...
“We are who we are, and there’s very little we can do to change our core. If we’re asked to change, there will be a chasm so deep inside of us that it will threaten our very life.” –Jodie Patterson, mother of transgender child The suicide last week of 17-year-old transgender girl Leelah Alcorn was a soul-crushing reminder of how our society is failing our transgender youth. Leelah’s parents rejected who she was and subjected her to conversion therapy, apparently believing the...
I want to share with you Vicky’s journey with NCLR—a journey that spans 11 years. Vicky is only one of the hundreds of LGBTQ immigrants that turn to NCLR desperate for help each year. Your gift today doubled by the Justice and Equality Matching Gift Challenge — will help us continue our vital work for people like her. We first met Vicky in 2003 after she came to the U.S. seeking asylum from Mexico. She had lived through abuse and violence because of her gender identity and sexual...
The news that we’d been dreading for weeks finally came last night, and it was as devastating as I had expected. White Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson would not face criminal charges for his killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. For days the rumors had been swirling that the Ferguson Grand Jury would not issue an indictment of Wilson, but some small part of me remained hopeful. I was so wishing the script would be different this time around. But, no. Once again a black...
Earlier this month, I had the chance to take the pulpit at Cathedral of Hope, a Dallas institution. I had not visited the Cathedral in more than 10 years, but when I received an invitation from my long-time friend and community hero, Reverend Jim Mitulski, who has been serving as the interim Senior Pastor, I jumped at the chance to return. While I’m no longer a part of any religious community, I see every day the difference that faith communities like COH make in the lives of people, including...
No child should ever be hurt because of who they are. That’s why we started the #BornPerfect campaign to end conversion therapy across the country over the next five years. We need your financial support to make it happen. All attempts to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through conversion therapy damage LGBTQ youth, causing depression, substance abuse, and even suicide. Conversion therapy has been condemned by every major medical and mental health organization in the...
On Monday morning, I was in my hotel room in Washington, D.C. The news was on, all was as expected, and I was finishing up e-mails before heading out to a breakfast meeting. A minute later, the world was gloriously, fabulously, improbably turned upside down. I was nervously waiting, as we all were, to see which case(s) the U.S. Supreme Court might take this term to decide whether same-sex couples throughout the country have the freedom to marry. Then, that penultimate question was suddenly...
The killing of Michael Brown has dominated the headlines and my thoughts over the past few days. An African-American 18-year-old dead with multiple gunshot wounds. The shots fired by a St. Louis police officer. The circumstances reeking of cover-up, profiling, and racism. My African-American 18-year-old son Julian has spent the last two weeks as an intern at Equal Justice Society (EJS), an organization for which I have been a long-time board member. Founded more than 14 years ago by my friend...
In 1964, I was 4 years old. My biological father had died the year prior and my mom had married the only father I would ever remember, Max Kendell. We had just relocated to Ogden, Utah from Portland, Oregon with my little sister, Sharon, who is 18 months my junior. We had left the comfort and embrace of my grandparents’ home, who we moved in with after our father’s death. My first memories are of the move to Utah. I was anxious and uneasy. My world was very small and already traumatic. I...