Bailey Henderson joined NCLR as a legal assistant in June 2023. He is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where he earned a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Global Studies. Prior to coming to NCLR, Bailey worked as a social work intern for the Federal Defenders Office for the Eastern District of California and spent his last year at UC Berkeley as the External Affairs Vice President of the university’s student government, advocating for students at the...
KJ Popkin has joined the NCLR litigation team as a Staff Attorney to challenge transgender medical bans across the country. Prior to joining NCLR, they worked as a civil rights litigator targeting the worst abuses of the criminal legal system and acted as appellate counsel in eight high-impact appeals in federal circuit courts. They filed and argued a case in the Third Circuit that reversed the dismissal of a case filed by a transgender woman who, despite having been beaten and raped at an...
Janine joined NCLR as a legal assistant in April of 2023. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Legal Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz, where she also competed on the Division III diving team. Since graduating Janine has worked on a ballot measure campaign in San Francisco and a voter registration campaign in Michigan, and more recently she worked as a counselor at a non-profit organization. Janine lives in San Francisco with her housemate and their two cats, Mia...
Rachel Berg works on NCLR’s nationwide impact litigation. She litigates the full range of NCLR’s civil practice. Before joining NCLR, Rachel spent her career in private practice at large law firms, where she focused on class action litigation. While there, she also developed a substantial pro bono practice related to various social justice issues. Rachel clerked for the Honorable Eli J. Richardson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and the Honorable Alan C. Kay of...
Noemi was born and raised in Managua, Nicaragua. At the age of 14, her family immigrated to the United States due to the unstable political climate in her country of origin. Her family applied for political asylum in 1982, and it was granted ten years later. After earning her B.A. in Spanish and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of California at Davis in 1991, Noemi worked as a counselor at FamiliesFirst, a non-profit organization serving troubled youth in the Bay Area. In 1994...
Over his more than 30 years at NCLR, Shannon Minter has led impact litigation, legislative, and public policy efforts. He has filed multiple lawsuits challenging a range of Trump administration anti-transgender executive orders. He is one of the nation’s foremost experts on conversion therapy, helping to draft and pass legislation in states to protect LGBTQ youth and support survivors. He served as lead counsel in the landmark California marriage equality case, and he led NCLR’s contributions...
Christopher F. Stoll, formerly of the law firm Heller Ehrman LLP, joins the staff as senior staff attorney with a focus on litigation and policy work. Over the past five years, Chris has assisted NCLR as co-counsel on several major cases, including serving as a valuable member of NCLR’s “Marriage Team” of attorneys. He also assisted NCLR in representing Sharon Smith in the wrongful death case brought on behalf of her partner Diane Alexis Whipple. Chris attended Harvard Law School and lives in...
Amy Whelan has been a Senior Staff Attorney at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR) since 2011 and works on NCLR’s full range of litigation, policy, and public education work. Amy litigates complex civil cases around the country regarding marriage equality, employment discrimination, Title IX, family law, access to healthcare, prisoners’ civil rights, the First Amendment, and other constitutional matters. Amy represented the mother of a transgender teenager who was subjected to severe...
Shin-Ming Wong graduated with a BA from Stanford University in 2003, where he majored in Philosophy. He was awarded his JD from U.C. Hastings in 2007, with a focus on Public Interest law. As an undergraduate he was active in student organizing around LGBTQ and people of color issues and was on staff at the Stanford LGBTQ Community Resources Center. While in law school he did clinical work at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies and volunteered at the General Assistance Advocacy Project....
TyrONE Hanley was born and raised with his two brothers by his Black lesbian mother in a low-income community in the ‘burbs of Chicago. She taught him how to be authentic, loving, curious, and non-judgmental. He brings his upbringing into his work by focusing on those most marginalized in the LGBTQ community. Prior to coming to NCLR, TyrONE worked as the HIV Prevention Manager at SMYAL, a DC-area LGBTQ youth organization. He has also previously served as the Gender Public Advocacy Center’s...
The Pride Community Center of North Central Florida offers safe spaces, resources, services and events to foster and enhance the well-being and visibility of LGBTQ+ people in North Central Florida. Visibility changes minds. Here in North Central Florida, LGBTQ+ people deserve access to safe spaces where they can not only express themselves, but where they can also be a part of a community. Come join us.
ACLU of Florida
The mission of the ACLU of Florida is to protect, defend, strengthen, and promote the constitutional rights and liberties of all people in Florida. We envision a fair and just Florida, where all people are free, equal under the law, and live with dignity.
QLatinx
QLatinx is a grassroots community-led racial, social, and gender justice organization dedicated to the advancement and empowerment of Orlando’s LGBTQ+ Latinx community. QLatinx is committed to building a supportive infrastructure, addressing inequity, promoting inclusionary QLatinx aims to deepen the political consciousness of LGBTQ+ and Latinx individuals about intersections and complexities of institutional, interpersonal, and internalized forms of oppression. This work includes empowering local LGBTQ+ leadership to become cognizant of gender and racial inequities with the LGBTQ+ community and in relation to cisgender populations.
Community Spring
Community Spring is a grassroots organization dedicated to economic justice. The two pillars of our work are income and power: income to meet people’s needs and power to reshape the systems that keep them down.
Joy Metropolitan Community Church
Joy MCC is the spiritual home to a multi-cultural, inclusive, and diverse community of faith. We are rooted in the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus. We experience a vibrant spirituality that is positive, practical, and progressive. We’ve always been a totally open and affirming church. We welcome the full participation of people of allraces, cultures, ages, abilities, spiritual backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities. We share a deep sense of community where our diversity is celebrated, not merely tolerated.
Southern Legal Counsel
Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. (SLC) is a Florida statewide not-for-profit public interest law firm that is committed to the ideal of equal justice for all and the attainment of basic human and civil rights. SLC developed its Transgender Rights Initiative to fill a gap in access to justice for Florida’s transgender community, including in areas such as access to legal authenticity, access to safe and affirming school and work environments, access to medically necessary healthcare, and more. SLC’s Trans Rights Initiative protects the rights of Florida’s LGBTQ+ community utilizing federal impact litigation, policy advocacy, and individual representation. SLC has litigated many of the recent federal cases against the state of Florida, and has successfully overturned the Medicaid Ban on gender-affirming care (Dekker v. Weida); permanently enjoined the medical care bans for minors and restrictions for adults created by SB 254 and the Boards of Medicine rules (Doe v. Ladapo); preliminarily enjoined the pronoun ban for transgender teachers in Florida’s public schools; and more.
Orlando Youth Alliance
Since 1990, the Orlando Youth Alliance (OYA) has been providing safe spaces for LGBTQ youth in Central Florida. Their coverage area includes metro Orlando, but also spans out to include the rural counties surrounding Orlando. In 2008, they created a chapter in Lakeland, Florida (Polk County). OYA oversees the highly successful Polk Pride Festival which attracts over 6,000 people annually.
Come Out With Pride
The mission of Come Out With Pride Orlando is to cultivate visibility, authenticity, and acceptance by curating inclusive experiences that celebrate and embody the spirit of queer resilience.
Equality Florida
Equality Florida is the largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. We’re changing Florida through lobbying, grassroots organizing, education, and coalition building — so that no one suffers harassment or discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.