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Participate in NCLR Breakthrough Photo Campaign

Posted by: Lez Get Real on January 12, 2011.

NCLR Launches Photo Campaign to Showcase Community and Groundbreaking Work

Melanie Nathan, (San Francisco, CA, January 11, 2011)—Want to be in a promo for the National Center for Lesbian Rights? NCLR is proud to launch the “I am NCLR …” photo campaign, designed to reflect and showcase our clients and supporters who fight alongside us everyday to ensure that every lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender person can live with dignity and security.

According to the new Campaign: “Since NCLR’s start in 1977, we have helped shape the laws and policies that impact the LGBT community, and our work embraces every aspect of who we are as a diverse community, recognizing that we come from many different backgrounds and face a wide range of issues, including: immigration and asylum, employment equality, adoption and family rights, marriage, racial justice, relationship recognition, transgender rights, access to services for youth and elders, and equal access to healthcare and government benefits.”

NCLR has always been on the cutting edge of legal and social issues; the first LGBT legal organization to launch a project to advocate for LGBT youth in the mental health system, schools, foster care, and juvenile detention.

According to NCLR: “As we look ahead to yet a major milestone in 2012—our 35th anniversary—we are launching the “I am NCLR …” photo campaign to reflect the members of our LGBT community and our allies. Through March 31, 2012, we would like your photos—your portraits, snapshots and special moments—with a homemade poster or sign in which you fill in the sentence, “I am NCLR, and I am…,” telling us how you reflect our groundbreaking work.”

A panel of artists, photographers, and NCLR staff will select some of the best images that will be used in NCLR promotional and marketing material through our 35th anniversary, where we will showcase many of your photos that will help tell NCLR’s story through real images, from real people.

Learn more about the “I am NCLR …” photo campaign, check out examples and how to submit your photos.

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The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. www.nclrights.org

Examples of NCLR’s Work –

Alameda County Fire Department and CalPERS Provide Equal Benefits to Same-Sex Spouse After National Center for Lesbian Rights Intervenes

New California Law Requires Equal Treatment of Same-Sex Spouses

(San Francisco, CA, February 18, 2010) — The Alameda County Fire Department and the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) have agreed to extend spousal benefits to same-sex spouses married outside of California, in compliance with a new state law. The changes came about after the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) advocated with the fire department and CalPERS on behalf of a fire department employee, Nancy C.

SB 54 is a new California law that, among other things, requires the state government to grant all the rights and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples who marry in other states or countries any time after November 5, 2008. It went into effect on January 1, 2010. NCLR helped draft the law, which was sponsored by Equality California and authored by Senator Mark Leno.

Nancy C., who works as an emergency dispatcher, is in a binational relationship with a Canadian citizen. She and her wife married in Ontario in October 2009. After Nancy learned about the passage of SB 54, she asked her employer to add her wife as a beneficiary on her health and retirement plans. The H.R. department initially told her that they could not do so, after CalPERS staff incorrectly advised them that only same-sex couples who registered as domestic partners were eligible for benefits. NCLR attorneys advocated with the fire department, Alameda County, and CalPERS on Nancy’s behalf, educating them about their responsibilities under SB 54. CalPERS then modified their guidance to comply with SB 54, and the Alameda County Fire Department was able to add Nancy’s wife as a beneficiary on all of her employee benefit plans.

“We are pleased that the Alameda County Fire Department and CalPERS are complying with SB 54, and providing benefits to LGBT employees and their spouses just like they do for all other married couples,” said Ilona Turner, a staff attorney with NCLR. “We trust that other public agencies in California will follow suit and modify their benefit policies, if they haven’t already done so.”

Smith v. Quale

Kim Smith and Maggie Quale are two women who were in a committed romantic relationship for over two years. They held a commitment ceremony before family and friends in January 2008. They decided to have children together and, after Maggie was unable to get pregnant using sperm from a sperm bank, they ended up using a friend’s boyfriend as a sperm donor. Kim and Maggie paid the donor $540 for his sperm from their joint bank account. They had twins, and raised them together for approximately six months before breaking up. The donor did not meet the twins until they were approximately one month old, and only saw them at most five times during the first six months of the babies’ lives. After the break-up, Maggie severely limited contact between Kim and the twins. Kim then filed a parentage action in Santa Cruz County family court, asserting her parental rights and requesting joint custody. As a defense to Kim’s parentage action, Maggie asked the sperm donor to return from a distant state, file a paternity action, and move in with her and the twins.

Kim was granted joint custody of the twins—and substantial visitation—by the Santa Cruz County court in preliminary hearings.

On February 18, 2010, Kim and Maggie were able to settle their case, in a resolution that recognizes both women as the legal parents of their twins.

Kim Smith is represented by NCLR, Deborah Wald, and local counsel Donna Becker, with pro bono assistance from Robert Depew of the firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati.

In re E.G.

E.G. is a young gay man from Uganda who came to the United States in order to pursue higher education. As a child and young adult, he was often verbally abused by his family members for behaving in a way that seemed too different from other boys. As he grew older, he learned to hide his sexuality for fear of being arrested by the police on the basis of his sexual orientation. E.G. hid from government operatives who hunt down men who are suspected to be gay, and then once arrested, are often tortured.

Fearful for his safety and life, E.G. suppressed his feelings and dedicated himself to his studies. When an opportunity to come to the United States on a scholarship arose, he immediately accepted. This scholarship meant everything to him, not only because of the opportunity to pursue higher education, but also because he knew that he would be free to live openly as a gay man. He arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area, went to school, met someone, and fell in love.

When a family friend in the U.S. found out about his sexual orientation, the acquaintance proceeded to tell E.G.’s family in Uganda, who summoned him home to face the consequences. E.G.’s attempts to explain his feelings to his family have been met with rejection, and all means of communication have been closed for almost two years. In addition to rejecting him as their son, his parents have reported E.G. to the police, and as a result, the police have questioned and intimidated his siblings and old friends in order to find out when E.G. would be returning to Uganda. Upon his return, he would be arrested and face jail time, torture, humiliation, and possibly death. E.G.’s asylum was granted in March 2010.