Latest From Kate Archives

December 20, 2018 | | Tags: Kate Kendell, National Center for Lesbian Rights, NCLR, San Francisco

Saying Goodbye to the Job of a Lifetime

Move to San Francisco to become NCLR Legal Director. Launch an LGBTQ Youth Project. Debate Rev. Jerry Falwell on national TV over Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out. Winning the first custody cases for LGBTQ parents. Launch Immigration Project and Elder Law Project. Lead on transgender legal advocacy. Become a new parent…twice. Deepen NCLR’s intersectional focus. A…

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March 15, 2018 | | Tags: Kate Kendell, National Center for Lesbian Rights, NCLR, San Francisco

The Job of a Lifetime

By Kate Kendell, Esq. | Comments (0)

Leading the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) has been the job of a lifetime. I feel extremely honored to have held this position and privileged to have experienced the countless moments of joy and awe that have forever changed our lives as LGBTQ individuals. After 22 years, with a full and grateful heart, I will step-down…

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December 1, 2017 | Issues: Additional Civil Rights | Tags: Kate Kendell, National Center for Lesbian Rights, NCLR, Roberta Achtenberg, World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day Message from Executive Director Kate Kendell

By Kate Kendell, Esq. | Comments (0)

This year, NCLR celebrated four decades of work to advance LGBTQ equality. We know that we are stronger and better able to fight today’s battles because of our deep history in the movement—growing with, standing with, and supporting our community. And today, on World AIDS Day 2017, we renew our commitment to the fight against…

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August 16, 2017 | Issues: Hate Crimes | Tags: Charlottesville, Kate Kendell, National Center for Lesbian Rights, NCLR, neo-nazis, racism, white supremacy

We must smash white supremacy. Together.

By Kate Kendell, Esq. | Comments (0)

Yesterday, the President of the United States defended white supremacy and virulent racism on national television. He derided the journalists who challenged or questioned his comments, and he created a false equivalence between anti-racism protesters and Neo-Nazis. This is not normal. And we cannot allow this to become the new normal. Trump did not make…

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June 30, 2017 | Issues: Additional Civil Rights | Tags: Masterpiece Cake Shop, Obergefell, Pavan

NCLR’s Supreme Court Win This Week, and Other Moments That Build a Movement

By Kate Kendell, Esq. | Comments (0)

Monday marked two important moments at NCLR. First, we celebrated the second anniversary of winning the freedom to marry nationwide at the U.S. Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges. Being a part of the legal team that won that landmark and transformative victory for our community will always be a highlight of my legal career….

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June 13, 2017 | Issues: Healthcare, Latest from Kate | Tags: ACHA, Affordable Care Act, healthcare, LGBTQ, medicaid, Planned Parenthood

More than 60 LGBTQ groups tell Senate that healthcare repeal would ‘harm millions’ of Americans and devastate the health of the LGBTQ community

By Kate Kendell, Esq. | Comments (0)

On June 13, 2017, the Human Rights Campaign and National Center for Lesbian Rights delivered a letter to the U.S. Senate urging them not to gut access to healthcare. More than 60 LGBTQ organizations, representing millions of LGBTQ people across the country, signed onto this letter sharing deep concerns for the health of our community….

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April 13, 2017 | Issues: Marriage | Tags: LGBTQ, marriage equality, North Carolina, Obergefell

Standing Up to Attempts to Take Down Marriage Equality.

By Kate Kendell, Esq. | Comments (0)

In North Carolina this week, anti-LGBTQ extremists tried to do the unthinkable. They introduced House Bill 780, also known as the “Uphold Historical Marriage Act” in an attempt to turn back the clock and, once again, whip up anti-LGBTQ sentiment. The bill directly challenges the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges by seeking to…

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December 20, 2016 | Issues: Additional Civil Rights, Asylum & Immigration, Elders, Employment, Family & Relationships, Federal Legislation & Policy, Hate Crimes, Healthcare, Housing, Latest from Kate, Low Income & Poverty, Marriage, Parenting, Prisons, Relationship Recognition, Rural Communities, Sports, State Legislation & Policy, Transgender Law, Transgender Parents, Transgender Youth, Youth

Rise Up!

By Kate Kendell, Esq. | Comments (0)

“Perseverance in almost any plan is better than fickleness and fluctuation”—Alexander Hamilton When we adopted our NCLR tag line—”The audacity to fight for justice, the perseverance to win”—it was before President Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope” and years before the cultural phenomenon that is “Hamilton” ushered in a refreshed examination of Alexander Hamilton’s writings….

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November 9, 2016 | Issues: Elders, Employment, Family & Relationships, Federal Legislation & Policy, General, Hate Crimes, Healthcare, Latest from Kate, Low Income & Poverty, Marriage, Parenting, Relationship Recognition, Rural Communities, State Legislation & Policy, Transgender Law, Transgender Parents, Transgender Youth, Youth

We will fight on

By Kate Kendell, Esq. | Comments (0)

By a slim margin, this nation has elected a demagogue who trafficked in bigotry, stoked racist hatred and normalized misogyny. The election of Donald Trump as President threatens basic principles of human dignity and justice. Many of our most cherished values—inclusion, honoring difference, embracing equality, dismantling oppressive systems—are in jeopardy, but we will not be…

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September 26, 2016 |

The Hyde Amendment Must Go

By Kate Kendell, Esq. | Comments (0)

At the very beginning of this year, NCLR filed an amicus brief in one of the most important abortion rights cases to reach the U.S. Supreme Court in decades. We urged the Court to look behind the rhetoric about “protecting women’s health” that Texas used to cloak its onerous abortion restrictions, and to be deeply…

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