On January 20, 2025 Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”, which directly targets transgender people by taking away their legal protections, and ordering trans women who are incarcerated in federal prisons to be unlawfully transferred to men’s facilities and be denied medically necessary health care. On February 10, 2025, NCLR, GLAD Law, and Lowenstein Sandler LLP filed a challenge...
Our Voices
Introduction Lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning, gender nonconforming, and transgender (LGBTQI) youth are well documented as disproportionally represented in the juvenile justice system. These disparities, coupled with the high visibility of LGBTQI youth as leaders amongst prominent campaigns to abolish the youth prison model, emphasize the importance of examining the concerns facing LGBTQI youth involved in the prison abolition movement, and the strengths they bring to the effort. This...
U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Transgender People Are Protected Under the Americans with Disabilities Act
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has added a new and urgent justification for ending the harmful, ineffective and expensive practice of locking up youth who are in conflict with the law. Youth in custodial settings are at great risk of exposure to a highly contagious virus. Probation personnel, facility staff, attorneys, youth and others enter and leave these facilities every day, increasing the risk of contagion. Youth detention centers and prisons are notoriously unsanitary environments,...
(November 16, 2016, San Francisco, CA)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights responds to President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Stephen Bannon, whose news agency has been a vehicle for extreme views about racial and religious minorities, women, and LGBTQ people as his chief White House strategist and senior counselor. Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq.: “Steve Bannon’s appointment as a senior presidential advisor is a betrayal of the American people and of our...
(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,...
(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...
(San Francisco, CA, April 21, 2016)—Yesterday, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and a coalition of 22 other LGBT, racial justice, and health equity organizations announced the filing of a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Michael Johnson, a former Missouri college student sentenced to more than 30 years for violating Missouri’s HIV transmission and exposure statute. The brief argues that Missouri’s criminal HIV law is irrational and conflicts with federal law that prohibits...
(January 26, 2016, San Francisco, CA)—Yesterday, President Obama announced an executive order placing essential restrictions on the use of solitary confinement in the federal prison system. The order bans solitary confinement of youth, reduces the use of solitary confinement for protective custody, and requires that prisoners with serious mental illnesses receive treatment rather than solitary confinement. Statement by National Center for Lesbian Rights Youth Policy Director Shannan Wilber:...
San Francisco, CA, September 29, 2015)—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) announces the release of a groundbreaking publication entitled, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in the Juvenile Justice System.” This comprehensive practice guide, written by NCLR Youth Project Director Shannan Wilber for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, provides juvenile justice agencies the tools to meet their obligation to ensure the safety and well-being of LGBTQ youth in their care. The...
