(San Francisco, Nov. 9, 2016)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) responds to the 2016 Presidential election results. Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq.: “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,...
Our Voices
(San Francisco, CA, June 24, 2016)—To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, Ropes & Gray will make a $100,000 donation to the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Ropes & Gray’s co-counsel in Obergefell. Ropes & Gray’s donation to NCLR has been funded through legal fees awarded to the firm by a federal court in Tennessee as part of the resolution of the case, which also awarded fees to NCLR and other firms...
(Washington D.C., June 23, 2016)—Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in two separate cases involving the state of Texas—one concerning affirmative action in university admissions and the other President Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs. In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the Court ruled 4-3 to reject a challenge to the University of Texas’s policy of taking race...
(January 19, 2016, Washington, D.C.)—Today the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the Fifth Court of Appeal’s decision blocking the implementation of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program and the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. By agreeing to hear the challenge to the Fifth Circuit Court’s ruling, the Supreme Court has the chance to positively affect the lives of millions of undocumented immigrants...
Over the past holiday weekend, as many of us relaxed with our families and celebrated the beginning of a new year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided the homes of Central American refugees in Texas, Georgia and North Carolina and arrested 121 people, many of them mothers with young children. Sadly, there is nothing new about the ICE raids. They are a component of the Obama administration’s enforcement policy that targets these refugees who arrived in the United States in...
Legal Brief Filed by 224 Groups Asks High Court to Hear Landmark Immigration Case (San Francisco, CA, December 2, 2015)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) has joined a coalition of 224 immigration, civil rights, labor, and social service groups in an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review Texas v. U.S., the case that has temporarily blocked some of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The filing of the amicus brief comes less than a month after...
(San Francisco, CA, November 9, 2015)—Tonight the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to allow the Deferred Action for Parent of American and Permanent Residents (DAPA) and expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs to take effect. The federal court’s ruling will negatively affect the lives of millions of undocumented immigrants and their family, many of whom are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals. Statement from National Center for Lesbian...
(Washington, DC, October 20, 2015)— The U.S. Senate voted 54-45 against advancing a federal bill that would have increased penalties for immigrants who reenter the United States after being deported and punished cities that protect immigrants from unjustified deportation. Statement from National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq: “We are relieved that yet another discriminatory congressional attack against the immigrant community in the United States has...
(Washington, DC, July 23, 2015)—Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act, a bill that would withhold federal money from sanctuary cities that promote public safety by making it safe for undocumented persons to report crimes to local police without fear of being deported. Statement from National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) Policy Director Julie Gonen: “We join with the wide array of those opposing this dangerous measure, including law...
A nationwide survey released this week on recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows eligible unauthorized immigrants who entered the country as children to apply for work permits and relief from deportation, illustrates the program’s impact on national employment, wages and education. The survey shows the broad economic and societal benefits for those covered under DACA: 96 percent of respondents are currently employed or in school, and many are...
