LGBT Bar NY Podcast

It is long past time for our New York state legislators to take action on the the issues that impact LGBTQ New Yorkers and our families. New York should be a place that protects the liberty and equality of all individuals, particularly those whose existence and expression has been oppressed. On this episode, we speak with some experts about several important legislative priorities for LeGaL.  Firs...

On July 31st, the LGBT Bar Association of New York, LeGaL, joined Lambda Legal and 60 other LGBTQ organizations in submitting a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court. Before entering this week’s confirmation hearings, Judge Kavanaugh’s record showed no indication that would decide cases involving discrimination against LG...

We call this episode. “You Better Clerk” That’s because as many folks are heading into, or back to law school, they may be wondering if a judicial clerkship is in their future.   Besides looking good on a resume, a judicial clerkship can be a transformative learning experience. It can also be a permanent career. On this episode I am going to speak with a law student who spent the summer clerking f...

This is a dangerous time for LGBTQ people, and children across the country are paying the price. On this installment, we are going to be talking with Christina Wilson Remlin, lead counsel at Children’s Rights about anti-LGBTQ legislation that targets queer youth in out of home care by attempting to give service providers a license to discriminate against foster parents and others who don’t meet a...

On July 9, Donald Trump announced that he was nominating Brett Kavanaugh, Judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, to fill Justice Kennedy’s seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh’s views pose a real threat to our nation’s core principles of equality and freedom for all. LeGaL, the LGBT Bar of New York assembled a rockstar panel for this podcast to discuss Trump's SCOTUS pick and what'...

On this episode of the LeGaL LGBT Podcast, we discuss Justice Kennedy's retirement, his LGBT rights legacy, and what's at stake for the future of civil rights claims. We are joined by Professor Art Leonard of NY Law School. Art literlally knows everything about LGBT litigation, so you are not going to want to miss this.

We call this episode, “What’s Cake Got To Do With It?”. This is because we will discuss the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding Trump’s travel ban and its relation to Masterpiece Cake Shop, Arlene’s Flowers, and the restaurant, Red Hen’s refusal to serve White House Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders. For many of us, the travel ban decision left us feeling heartbroken and helpless. The decision remi...

We will not be discussing cake in this podcast. If you want our take on Masterpiece, please have a listen to the special episode we recorded 24 hours after the ruling came down—oh and share it with your friends. Make sure they know that the Supreme Court did not give every homophobe across the country a license to discriminate. We call this episode. “LGBT eyes still on SCOTUS” That’s because the S...

The Supreme Court ruled narrowly against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission in Masterpiece Cakeshop, based on concerns that the original case was not decided “with the religious neutrality that the Constitution requires.” In doing so, the Court also reaffirmed the core American principle that businesses open to the public must be open to all. The unfortunate result of this ruling is that cases l...

We call this episode “Stacking the Courts: The Fight Against Trump’s Extremist Judicial Nominees.” That’s because in nomination after nomination, Trump’s picks for federal courts are hostile to civil rights in general and specifically hostile to LGBT rights. As the Senate tries to rubberstamp and rush these nominees through by confirming them at an alarming pace, Lambda Legal has spearheaded a bro...

Thursday, May 17th is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. It was created in 2004 to draw attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by LGBT people internationally. May 17 is now celebrated in more than 130 countries, including 37 where homosexuality is criminalized. We have been trying to highlight how Trump’s immigration policies and rhetoric are dang...

We call this LGBT Law Notes episode of the LeGaL Podcast “Trump Benchslap.” That’s because a district court hearing one of the challenges Trump’s hateful transgender military ban saw right through the Administration’s attempt to dress up the same old ban with some fresh paint. The Administration also suffered a tatol defeat in an asylum case before the 9th Circuit. Trump’s favorite Circuit. We wil...

LeGaL (LGBT Bar NY) discusses the brief we joined urging the Supreme Court to strike down Trump’s discriminatory Travel Ban. The Ban is extremely dangerous — particularly for members of the LGBTQ community. LeGaL’s Eric Lesh, Executive Director, and Brett Figlewski, Legal Director discuss. Read the brief: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-965/39930/20180326080438530_17-965%20bsac%20Immi...

We call this installment of the LGBT Law Notes Podcast: “The Transgender Trio.” We will be discussing serval cases with significant implications for three very important issues impacting transgender rights. First, a unanimous Sixth Circuit panel held that discrimination based on transgender status is protected under Title VII Second, we will give you an update on Trump’s hateful trans military ban...

We call this installment: “Because of Sex.” That’s because we just received a huge win from the full 2nd Circuit in a major Title VII case where the court ruled that sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination under existing federal law. We will begin by chatting about this huge case that we have all been patiently been waiting for with Professor Art Leonard of New York Law S...

We call this installment: “Waiting for cake.” That’s because SCOTUS seems to be saving room for desert as the justices turn their nose up at several big LGBT legal entrees. SCOTUS passes over an employment discrimination case, a license to discriminate case, a trans rights case and a resisting Obergefell case. LGBT rights related activity from overseas. NY parenting case with our legal director LG...

Themes of resistance run through the legal developments of the past 30 days. This episode of the Law Notes Podcast details: 1) how the Trump administration retreated after a series of 10 federal judges put a halt to the administration’s discriminatory transgender military ban; 2) US Supreme Court’s resistance to hearing several big LGBT rights cases: and 3) how the Iowa Supreme Court is resisting...

Discussion of: (1) the oral argument for the blockbuster Masterpiece Cakeshop case at the U.S. Supreme Court; (2) marriage equality finally arriving in the Land Down Under; (3) another preliminary injunction against President Trump's ban on open transgender military service; and (4) two big wins in fully litigated Title VII cases. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Association of Gr...

Discussion of: (1) a great first ruling in one of the four movement organization lawsuits brought to stop President Trump’s ban on transgender troops; (2) two memorandums issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in October that threaten LGBT rights; (3) a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ordering a new trial after a district court failed to ask jurors about anti-gay...

Discussion of: (1) appellate courts in Arizona and New York extending traditional marital presumptions to same-sex couples; (2) two new cert petitions to watch at the U.S. Supreme Court; (3) a great decision from a federal district court rejecting all constitutional arguments made by wedding videographers in a pre-enforcement challenge to the ban on sexual orientation discrimination in public acco...

Discussion of: (1) President Trump setting in motion a ban on open transgender military service in the United States; (2) what is shaping up to be a blockbuster term at the U.S. Supreme Court for LGBT rights; (3) a fascinating custody dispute that has emerged out of the Hasidic community in Brooklyn; and (4) the state of play in Australia as a postal plebiscite on marriage equality gets underway....

Discussion of: (1) the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirming Obergefell and the Texas Supreme Court's outrageous misreading of Obergefell only days later; (2) the hot-button First Amendment issue the Supreme Court agreed to decide next term; (3) why the big Title VII question could now also be decided by the Supreme Court in the next term; and (4) a setback from the Fifth Circuit in the constitutional ch...

Discussion of: (1) two transgender rights breakthroughs under federal law in May; (2) Title VII developments in the Second Circuit; (3) a Kentucky Court of Appeals decision that a vendor did not violate a local antidiscrimination ordinance when it refused to make pride t-shirts; and (4) the wonderful marriage equality news out of Taiwan. Visit le-gal.org to learn more about The LGBT Bar Associatio...

Discussion of: (1) the first ruling under the federal Fair Housing Act to conclude it protects LGBT people; (2) a Manhattan court finding that a woman is not the legal parent to a child adopted by her former same-sex partner; (3) constitutional equal protection principles for jury selection being extended to sexual orientation in California; and (4) why Roy Moore is back in the news, despite losin...

Discussion of: (1) the flurry of Title VII decisions from federal appellate courts in the last month, especially the en banc Seventh Circuit's historic ruling in the Hively case; (2) the remand of Gavin Grimm's case back down to the Fourth Circuit; (3) the disappointing replacement for H.B. 2 in North Carolina; and (4) how Neil Gorsuch may impact LGBT rights now that he has been confirmed to the S...