Devoted to the lesbian-feminist foundation to provide a broad perspective of advocacy and legal support for fundamental rights, Hitchens and Achtenberg focused their initial courtroom battles on lesbian family issues, which at that time saw lesbian mothers having to prove they were fit parents to retain child custody rights. The first court victory for NCLR was in 1983 when Sharon Johnson, a black lesbian mother, won custody of her son Daimein.

— “NCLR still has an edge at 30” by Heather Cassell, The Bay Area Reporter, Apr 4, 2007