The day after the U.S. Supreme Court heard two days of historic arguments over marriage equality, I talked with Lee Swislow, Executive Director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), who can be considered the architects of the legal push for gay marriage in this country. In 2004 GLAD won the landmark Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health decision, which made marriage legal for gay and lesbian couples in Massachusetts. Later, they were the first to file challenges to Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- Gill et al. v. Office of Personnel Management in 2009 and Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management in 2010 -- both of which resulted in federal judges ruling the law unconstitutional. Though neither of these cases made it to the Supreme Court, GLAD coordinated the amicus briefs and the party briefs in United States v. Windsor, the DOMA case that did reach the Supreme Court.
I talked with Lee about the Supreme Court cases and other civil rights issues facing the LGBT community. When asked what she would like to see the Obama administration accomplish for the LGBT community in the next four years, she said:
There's a lot in the Obama agenda that isn't LGBT-specific, but things like comprehensive immigration reform and implementation of the Affordable Care Act affect members of our communities who don't have legal status. It affects people who have trouble accessing health care, so I certainly support those aspects, and I think they're very important. But there are certainly initiatives that are much more targeted to our community that I would like to see accomplished and passing. A good, comprehensive Employment Non-Discrimination Act is clearly high on the list, and ending transgender discrimination in the military. We got the end of "don't ask, don't tell," but not the end of the entire discrimination facing our community. Providing coverage of transgender health care is another piece I'd like to see him do. So there's a lot he could accomplish over the next four years that would be very significant to our community.
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GLAD was founded in 1978 and is one of the leading legal rights organizations dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression. Each time GLAD argues a case or tackles an issue, they tear down more of the outdated laws and stereotypes that have denied LGBT people and people with HIV basic protections and opportunities in every area of daily life -- family, school, employment, housing, government, health care and beyond. Whether it's marriage for gay and lesbian couples, nondiscrimination policies for transgender people in the workplace or protections for people with HIV, GLAD doesn't compromise on their belief that every citizen deserves full equality under the law without exception.
Fore more information about GLAD, visit glad.org.
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