Arizona’s Senate Bill (S.B.) 1165 bans transgender girls from competing on school sports teams at every grade and competition level no matter the sport and without regard for each girl’s individual circumstances. In April 2023, NCLR and the law firms Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Osborn Maledon P.A. filed a case challenging this ban, representing two transgender girls who are barred from playing the sports they love. The complaint alleges that S.B. 1165 violates the Equal Protection Clause...
Our Voices
On March 28, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law HB 1557 – widely known as the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law – which seeks to censor discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida’s public schools. The law seeks to create a climate of fear, uncertainty, and financial risk for any Florida school that wishes to be an inclusive place of learning. Under this law, even mentioning the existence of LGBTQ people in the classroom can prompt a costly private lawsuit...
In 2020, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed into law HB 500 – the so-called “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” – making Idaho the first state to pass a law banning transgender athletes from participating in sports. The law would bar women and girls who are transgender, and many who are intersex, from taking part in school sports consistent with their gender identity. It would also institute a “dispute” process, which would require female athletes to verify their biological sex through an...
On September 14, 2021, Equality California, NCLR, and Lambda Legal filed an amicus letter on behalf of a coalition of state, local, and national nonprofit groups urging the California Supreme Court to review Taking Offense v. State of California, an appellate decision invalidating a non-discrimination statute requiring equal treatment of LGBTQ residents of long-term care facilities. Taking Offense involves a challenge to a provision of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term...
LaNesha Matthews and Kyresha LeFever were a same-sex couple who had twins together using assisted reproduction. Their children were conceived using Kyresha’s eggs, and LaNesha gave birth, a process sometimes called egg sharing or reciprocal IVF. The parents broke up when the twins were young but coparented and shared custody for years until a dispute arose when the twins were 5-years-old. Kyresha sought shared custody, which the trial court initially granted after determining that Kyresha is a...
Meghan Murphy repeatedly referred to a transgender woman using male pronouns while posting on Twitter. She was informed by Twitter that this activity violated the company’s hateful conduct rules, but Murphy persisted, resulting in Twitter permanently suspending her account. Murphy sued Twitter in February 2019 alleging that the company violated the terms of their user agreement by suspending her account. The trial court dismissed her case, finding that Twitter had the authority to permanently...
On August 21, 2020, NCLR and Lambda Legal led a coalition of LGBTQ advocacy organizations and legal aid groups in submitting a proposed amicus brief urging California’s Fifth Appellate District to reverse a trial court ruling against Maddie Wade, a former employee of Starbucks in Fresno. On August 27, 2020, the court granted leave to file the amicus brief. The case is Wade v. Starbucks Corporation. Maddie Wade, who worked for Starbucks for eight years, sued Starbucks and her former manager,...