Kevin Cathcart, Lambda’s executive director, flew into Chicago last week and met with LLDEF donors at Northern Trust Bank’s central location on South LaSalle. Arranged by bank senior vice president R. Sue Connolly, a Lambda supporter employed by Northern Trust for more than 20 years, the fruit-and-pastry breakfast was designed to update community members on Lambda’s current priorities, including the Texas case that was argued before the Supreme Court bench on March 26.
‘It was a very theatrical experience,’ said Lambda senior counsel Pat Logue, describing her time spent with the high court in Washington, D.C. ‘There are these 30-foot red velvet curtains and Baroque-ish ceilings. The presentation Paul Smith (a gay attorney from the law firm Jenner and Block working pro bono on the case) made couldn’t have been better. That was one of the best oral arguments I’ve ever heard.’
The U.S. Supreme Court is presented with approximately 4,000 cases every year and whittles that figure to fewer than 100 they actually will hear. Lambda and its co-counsel, as required, previously had presented the court with three questions revolving around this case: 1) the equality issue; 2) the privacy issue; and 3) should Bowers v. Hardwick be overturned?
In regards to the first question, 15 states have anti-sodomy laws on their books, but four of those, including Texas, apply the law only to homosexual sodomy. The privacy issue relates to the consensual activity taking place in a home, behind closed doors. The 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick case, regarded by some as the most significant of all legal decisions addressing sodomy, witnessed the Supreme Court taking a 5-4 stand in favor of the anti-sodomy law in Georgia, striking a blow to the LGBT community.
‘The Court can do what they want; they don’t have to respond to all three,’ Logue said.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor voted among the majority in the Georgia case, but Lambda remains hopeful she might be an ally in this decision.
‘O’Connor and (Justice Anthony) Kennedy didn’t say much; they were pretty quiet,’ Logue explained. ‘Generally, if they have a problem with your case, they’re very active.’
A victory from the March 26 arguments requires five votes. Lambda, confident of three, expects Kennedy and O’Connor to tip the scales of justice on this case.
In addition to the Lawrence and Garner v. Texas update, breakfast attendees also got a look at Lambda’s new video that centers on four impactful cases. Two, or perhaps all four, will make you cry.
Imagine being born into a home with two mothers. At age 12, your biological mother dies in an automobile accident. At her funeral, you are snatched from your other mother’s life by the deceased mother’s homophobic relatives. This is the story of young Lita Ramos who, thanks to Lambda, has returned to the custody of her non-biological mother, Lydia Ramos.
‘The heartbreaking ordeal set off a chain of complicated legal events that illustrates the importance of ‘Proyecto Igualdad’ (Project Equality), Lambda Legal’s new initiative to better serve and empower Latino lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people,’ the Lambda Web site explains.
The video also unveils the devastating story of a man not allowed by the hospital to be with his life partner before he fell into unconsciousness and, subsequently, died. Lambda spotlights its case against the United Methodist Children’s Home and Department of Human Resources in Georgia on behalf of youth counselor Aimee Bellmore who was fired because she’s a lesbian. Equally important is the right-to-marry case in New Jersey, promoted in the video by a brave female couple who was forced into financial hardship because the one who fell ill could not be covered by her partner’s health insurance.
The morning ended with an appeal for continued and increased, if possible, financial support for Lambda’s historical work.
‘The video is pretty sad,’ Cathcart said, ‘because when people call Lambda, it’s usually not because they’re happy and everything’s going beautifully in their lives.’