Lambda Legal hosted its annual Bon Foster Civil Rights Celebration April 28 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The event is held in memory of lawyer Robert Bonvouloir ‘Bon’ Foster who passed away in 1991. His bequest to Lambda Legal enabled the organization to open its Midwest Regional Office two years later. This year’s honored guests were foster moms Rosemary Fontaine and Tammy Johnson. More than 300 people were in attendance and almost $135,000 was raised, the largest sum in the event’s history.
In a short address, Legal Director Jon Davidson retraced the history of LGBT rights in the U.S., and pointed out major court victories and legislative breakthroughs since the creation of Lambda Legal in 1969. He noted the incremental progress from Stonewall, when no LGBT-specific law practice existed, to today’s five regional offices in New York, L.A., Chicago, Atlanta, and Dallas. With 20 lawyers on staff and an annual budget of $10 million, Davidson said Lambda Legal is slowly reversing anti-LGBT biases by winning landmark cases in several states and at all judicial levels. As a sign that the tide is tangibly turning in favor of gay, lesbian, and transgender employees, Davidson added that 82% of Fortune 500 companies now have anti-discrimination policies.
One such victory was the case involving Fontaine and Johnson. Acting as foster parent for a two-year-old boy named Austin, Rosemary Fontaine was ordered by an Illinois court to return him to his grandparents, who had previously been indicted of abuse against him. While the boy would have been put in a household where both his skull and leg had been fractured, the court preferred naming next of kin relatives as legal guardians over a woman in a same-sex relationship.
Lambda appealed the decision and recommended attorney Michael Brody of Winston & Strawn. Arguing on behalf of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Fontaine, Lambda Senior Counsel Pat Logue also submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the Illinois Supreme Court. After three years of protracted legal wranglings, it was ruled earlier this year that Austin can remain with his foster family, which includes Fontaine’s partner of many years Tammy Johnson and two other boys under the age 10. Proceedings for a formal adoption have begun. Illinois is one of 24 states that allows second parent adoption.
In an emotional speech, Fontaine thanked everyone at Lambda for their help in keeping her family together. Meanwhile in their little suits and ties, the boys made funny faces and looked like they were having a splendid time just being there together.