By Ijpe DeKoe Tennessee Marriage Case Plaintiff Thom was my childhood sweetheart. We met in 1999 when we were in our late teens and working as camp counselors that summer. We knew there was something special in one another and maintained a close friendship for a decade before finally admitting that we were perfect together. In 2011, we got engaged. Soon after, we were married in New York—while I was on a three days pass from my mobilization training at FT. Dix, NJ. A week later I began my nine...
By Robert Holgate NCLR’s Major Gifts Campaign Co-Chair I first heard about NCLR from a friend and interior design client who does pro bono legal work for Legal Services for Children. During the early years of my business, this client and I would meet, and we would often talk about the cases she was working on. I’m a big advocate for children’s rights and especially young LGBTQ kids. When my friend was describing one of her cases, she mentioned how impressed she was with NCLR, saying that...
NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell’s sister, Sharon, shared the below piece about her relationship with Kate at a big Mormon church gathering last month. Read Kate’s corresponding piece. By Sharon Ellsworth-Nielson Guest Columnist “Love is the answer to all the important questions.” When I heard this quote in 2010 by Richard Paul Evans at a conference, this simple truth resonated in me—FINALLY. Despite years of being a member of the Church and believing in the gospel, feeling pretty proud of...
By Ryan Kendall NCLR Guest Columnist I was at home, deep into studying for my fall-semester class load at Columbia University in New York City, when I got the news that California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1172 into law, protecting young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth from the same type of psychological abuse that I endured at the hands of mental health professionals who tried to change my sexual orientation. It was a powerful thing to know that we had finally done...
By Dynasty Young NCLR Guest Columnist Before last year, I had little to fear in high school. I came out a couple of years earlier when I was a freshman, and couldn’t imagine that people who didn’t even know me could have so much hate built up against me. But I soon learned that wasn’t true. After enrolling in Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, I faced constant name calling and threats just because I have a unique style and I’m gay. What made things worse is that the harassment...
Last month, NCLR filed a federal lawsuit challenging Indianapolis Public Schools’ discriminatory treatment and failure to protect openly gay former student, Dynasty Young, who faced severe and relentless harassment at school throughout the 2011-2012 school year. By Chelisa Grimes No parent ever wants to hear that their child is being tormented at school, with classmates not only hurling derogatory words, but spitting on their child as they walk down the halls and throwing glass bottles. So...
By Huong T. Nguyen NCLR Guest Columnist Saturday, December 18, 2010. It’s 8:30 a.m., and I am still in bed. I hear footsteps hurriedly coming up the stairs. My bedroom door slams open, and a big mass lands on my body. Thromp! I open one eye and see my earnest 5-year-old son, Rowan, staring intently down at me. He whispers, “Mommy, wake up, they are voting to move the bill. ~~~ It’s only been three hours since I succumbed to sleep. I was keeping a vigil. I had a crazy idea that the repeal of...
By Huong T. Nguyen NCLR Guest Columnist At the beginning of this school year, Rowan, my 6-year-old son, held court in his first-grade class about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). The unprompted conversation with his classmates went something like this: Rowan: My mom was in the military. Classmates: Really? Rowan: Yeah, but she was kicked out because she was gay. (His peers gathered around to hear his tale.) One classmate: No, I don’t believe you! Rowan: No, really, I saw her uniform! In the...
The Family Acceptance Project of San Francisco State University collaborated with Proyecto Poderoso, a joint project of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and California Rural Legal Assistance, and Radio Bilingüe to develop a Spanish-language radio soap opera to reach the Latino community with stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender acceptance. The three-part series—called “Bienvenidos a Casa” or “Welcome Home”—is airing through March 31, 2011 on Radio Bilingüe Stations across...
Desiree Shelton is an out lesbian and a senior at Champlin Park High School, in Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin School District. She and her girlfriend, Sarah Lindstrom, were elected to the school’s Snow Days royalty court for the winter formal dance. They sued their school district—with the help of lawyers from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Faegre & Benson LLP—after school officials said they couldn’t walk together in the traditional couples’...
