FIRST CASE People v. West 12 Tenants Corp. New York, 1983
Lambda Legal brought the nation’s first challenge to HIV discrimination in the early 1980s, when HIV doctor Joseph Sonnabend was evicted from his office in New York City’s West Village by the coop board in his building. Sonnabend was among few doctors at that point who were willing to treat people with the mysterious new illness that was by then already beginning to kill a tragically high number of gay men and others.
Lambda Legal and the New York State’s Attorney General alleged that the coop board was violating New York Human Rights Law and Civil Rights Law by discriminating against both Sonnabend and his patients on the basis of HIV disability.
A New York court issued a preliminary injunction in 1983 barring the eviction. The coop board appealed, but the parties eventually reached a settlement and the building allowed Dr. Sonnabend to carry on treating people with HIV —which he did for many years.
JUMPING WITHOUT A NET Matter of Matthew Cusick and Cirque du Soleil, Nevada, 2004
Lambda Legal brought the nation’s first challenge to HIV discrimination in the early 1980s, when HIV doctor Joseph Sonnabend was evicted from his office in New York City’s West Village by the coop board in his building. Sonnabend was among few doctors at that point who were willing to treat people with the mysterious new illness that was by then already beginning to kill a tragically high number of gay men and others.
Lambda Legal and the New York State’s Attorney General alleged that the coop board was violating New York Human Rights Law and Civil Rights Law by discriminating against both Sonnabend and his patients on the basis of HIV disability.
A New York court issued a preliminary injunction in 1983 barring the eviction. The coop board appealed, but the parties eventually reached a settlement and the building allowed Dr. Sonnabend to carry on treating people with HIV —which he did for many years.