LGBT Bar NY Podcast

On this episode of the LeGaL LGBT Podcast, Eric Lesh, Executive Director of the LGBT Bar of New York and Mathew Shurka, co-founder and chief strategist of the Born Perfect campaign discuss the fight to ban the harmful and discredited practice of anti-LGBT conversion therapy nationwide.    

Eric Lesh, Executive Director of the LGBT Bar of NY and Professor Art Leonard of New York Law School, discuss three important LGBT rights cases from August: The Ninth Circuit affirmed an injunction ordering gender confirmation surgery for an Idaho transgender inmate; The Supreme Court received a second round of filings in the blockbuster LGBT employment discrimination cases to be argued on October...

Eric Lesh, Executive Director of the LGBT Bar of NY and Professor Art Leonard of New York Law School, discuss three important LGBT rights cases from July: A Catholic Adoption Agency Asks Supreme Court for a “License to Discriminate” Against LGBTQ People; A Transgender Teenager’s Mother Asks Supreme Court to Recognize a Parent’s Due Process Rights to Control Her Child’s Life; and A Federal Appeals...

There are nearly 1 million adult immigrants in the United States that self-identify as LGBTQ. The Trump administration has been relentless in its attacks against immigrants from apprehension, to detentions, to deportations. The approach has been aggressive, unspeakably cruel and even deadly. LeGaL's Executive Director, Eric Lesh sits down with Sharita Gruberg , Director of the Policy, LGBT Researc...

On the LGBT Law Notes episode, LGBT Bar NY Executive Director Eric Lesh and New York Law School Professor Art Leonard discuss the latest wedding cake news from the Supreme Court and more, including a ruling from another state high court that is sticking to its pro-equality decision after searching the record for signs of bias in the proceeding. Next, we will chat about a New York case where a gay...

LeGaL Executive Director Eric Lesh speaks with transgender rights litigator Jillian Weiss about her LGBT workplace fairness work at the Law Firm of Jillian T. Weiss and as Special Co-Counsel at Outten & Golden . Then, we chat with Larry Pearson and David Gottlieb of Wigdor LLP about their LGBT employment, harassment and retaliation cases against the novelist Nicholas Sparks and their case against...

On this LGBT Law Notes episode LeGaL Executive Director Eric Lesh and New York Law School Professor Art Leonard discuss a rare bit of good news from the Supreme Court in transgender rights case. Next they chat about a religiously affiliated children’s agency’s failed attempt to turn away same-sex couples seeking to adopt. Then they chat about a series of cases that deal with same-sex spouses and t...

Eric Lesh, Executive Director of the LGBT Bar of New York and New York Law School Professor Art Leonard give the very latest updates and insights on everything SCOTUS, including the recent Title VII grants as well as some denials. Next they discuss a federal appellate ruling in a case seeking to block enforcement of Philadelphia’s law barring child welfare groups doing business with the city from...

Today’s show is about sex workers' rights and the fight in New York to decriminalize sex work. We are speaking with Jared Trujillo, who is a Steering Committee member of DecrimNY, a coalition of 30 groups to decriminalize, destigmatize, and decarcerate sex work in New York. He’s also the President of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys.

LeGaL's Executive Director speaks with the ACLU’s Ian Thompson about federal policy issues, including major pieces of legislation like the Equality Act, and the effort to reverse the transgender military ban. We also chat about HIV/AIDS, administrative rollbacks, and the continuing attack on Obamacare. Ian Thompson is a Legislative Representative in the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. Ian wo...

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will review three cases that could have a massive impact on the rights and lives of LGBT people in the workplace. Specifically, the Court will decide whether the ban on employment discrimination “because of sex” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 can be interpreted to apply to claims of discrimination because of sexual orientation. Eric Lesh...

LeGaL Executive Director Eric Lesh speaks with New York Law School Professor Art Leonard about SCOTUS’s decision NOT to hear the Aloha Bed and Breakfast case involving a small B & B that received a public accommodations smackdown from Hawaii. Next, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled by a vote of 2-1 that the state of Texas did not violate the 8th Amendment r...

On this episode LeGaL Executive Director Eric Lesh speaks with Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Ethan Rice. At issue is a brief that Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and ACLU South Dakota filed with the Supreme Court in the case of Rhines v. Young. The brief argues that anti-gay juror bias in-part motivated the South Dakota jury’s decision to sentence Charles Rhines to death. We also chat about the experiences...

On the Law Notes episode of the LeGaL LGBT Podcast, we discuss: The latest legal developments on Trump's hateful transgender military ban; A federal court blocks discharges of healthy airmen living with HIV; and A U.S. district court that finds a child born in Canada through gestational surrogacy to a same-sex couple is entitled to U.S. citizenship at birth. LeGaL Executive Director Eric Lesh and...

On the Law Notes episode of the LeGaL LGBT Podcast we discuss the transgender military ban action after the SCOTUS decision to reverse the stays on the preliminary injunctions. Next, we talk about the desire by anti-LGBT litigation groups to permit the torture of queer people by attacking several recent laws banning conversion therapy—including one right here in NYC. Finally, we discuss the latest...

We call this episode of the LeGaL LGBT Podcast "Weaponizing the Web: Queer People in the Age of Grindr and the Cyberharassment." LeGaL Executive Director Eric Lesh talks with Professor Ari Ezra Waldman talk about queer people and issues related to online privacy and security, including revenge porn and how the law can address the issue of non-consensual sharing of images over online dating apps. W...

On January 22nd, by a 5–4 vote, the Supreme Court lifted two injunctions blocking Trump’s hateful and discriminatory ban on transgender military service. This is not the end. It’s only the beginning. Nevertheless this was devastating news. The disgraceful actions of this president and his administration, aided by his two illegitimate appointments to the Supreme Court, dishonor the brave transgende...

Welcome to the Law Notes episode of the LeGaL LGBT Podcast. I’m Eric Lesh, Executive Director of LeGaL, the LGBT Bar of NY. On today’s show we are going to be talking about the latest Supreme Court developments. We discuss the attempt by the administration to let the transgender military ban go into effect, and a new sexual orientation  discrimination case under Title IX. Next we will talk about t...

On today’s show we are going to be talking about the Trump Administration’s desperate attempt to implement its hateful transgender military ban by jumping the line straight to the Supreme Court. Next, we will talk about another cert petition. This time it’s ADF’s challenge to a PA School District’s policy allowing transgender students to use restroom and locker room facilities consistent with thei...

December 1st is World AIDS Day. On this episode of the LeGaL LGBT Podcast, Eric Lesh speaks with Lambda Legal's HIV Project Director Scott Schoettes about the domestic issues of import to people living with HIV. People living with HIV continue to face discrimination in all areas of life. Lambda Legal won the first HIV discrimination lawsuit in the nation, and since then Scott and his team have hel...

It’s the Law Notes edition of the LeGaL LGBT Podcast. On this show LeGaL’s Executive Director Eric Lesh talks with Prof. Art Leonard about the Trump Administration’s decision to ask the Supreme Court to delay deciding whether Title VII bars gender identity discrimination.  Then we will discuss two bigoted baker cases: one that may be coming back to SCOTUS and another that was decided in the UK.  F...

On today’s show we are going to be talking about what civil rights advocates can do to invest in judges who are committed to a liberal jurisprudence that will protect a democracy of the people as well as the rights of LGBT people, women and vulnerable minorities. We are going to start by talking with Chris Kang, chief counsel for Demand Justice and former Chief Counsel to President Obama about the...

We call this installment of the LGBT Law Notes edition of the LeGaL LGBT Podcast: “Sodomy Law Goes Down.” That’s because on September 6, 2018, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the Constitution protects an individual’s sexual orientation. We will begin by chatting about this case with Professor Art Leonard of New York Law School. Art is the chief editor and writer of LGBT Law Notes, the most c...

  Host, Eric Lesh, talks with Nancy Marcus, co-founder of BiLaw and writer for LegallyBi.    Sept 19-26 is Bisexual Awareness Week, and Septender 23rd is Bi Visibility Day. On this episode we talk about the nearly five million adults in the U.S. who identify as bisexual. In case you were wondering, bi people actually comprise more than half of the entire LGBT community, yet bi people are often era...

LGBT Law Notes Episode! Host, Eric Lesh, talks with Professor Art Leonard of New York Law School. Art is the chief editor and writer of LGBT Law Notes, the most comprehensive monthly publication covering the latest legal and legislative developments affecting the LGBT community here and abroad. Topics include: Supreme Court Faces Petitions for Review of Rulings on LGBT-Related Issues as October Te...