National LGBT Bar Association
 |
|
| Founded | 1989 |
|---|---|
| Location | |
|
Area served
|
United States |
| Website | http://lgbtbar.org/ |
|
Formerly called
|
National Lesbian and Gay Law Association |
The National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Bar Association, formerly the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association, is a national association of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals, law students, activists, and affiliated lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender legal organizations. It was formally founded in 1989 and became an official affiliate of the American Bar Association in 1992. The association is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and its current executive director is D’Arcy Kemnitz.
The idea of creating a national lesbian and gay bar association was introduced at the 1987 march on Washington, D.C. for lesbian and gay rights. In 1989, at the American Bar Association (ABA) midyear meeting, bylaws for the association were presented and a nonprofit board of directors was formalized.
By the time the second board meeting was held in 1989 in Boston, the LGBT Bar had 293 paid members. At the meeting, the association initiated a campaign to ask the ABA to include protection based upon sexual orientation to its revision of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct for Judges, which has now been accepted by several states.
In 1992, the LGBT Bar became an official affiliate of the American Bar Association and now works closely with the ABA's Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities and its Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
In January 1995, the LGBT Bar became the first national organization to unanimously pass a board resolution calling for transgender inclusion in Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Each year, the National LGBT Bar Association hosts the Lavender Law® Conference and Career Fair to bring together legal professionals in the LGBT community. The three-day conference draws over 1,600 attendees and features over 40 workshops and panel discussions as well as plenary sessions, receptions for women and people of color, and other opportunities for attendees to earn continuing legal education (CLE) credits. The career fair, held on the first day of the conference, draws over 500 students and features over 130 recruiters.
The Dan Bradley Award
The Dan Bradley Award is the National LGBT Bar Association's highest honor. It recognizes the efforts of a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender legal community whose work, like Attorney Dan Bradley's, has led the way in our struggle for equality under the law. Dan Bradley was the first chair of the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibility's Committee on the Rights of Gay People, now known as the Committee for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Bradley saw the law as a powerful instrument of social justice, and he believed that lawyers had an obligation to place their skills as advocates at the service of the least powerful among us.
...
Wikipedia