“Lambda Legal and the LGBTQ+ community have lost a giant.”
Former Cook County Circuit Judge Patricia “Pat” Logue passed away last week. Lambda Legal, where Judge Logue worked for 14 years, including opening its Chicago office in 1993, issued the following statement:
“Pat Logue was a brilliant lawyer, a trailblazing jurist, and a hero to the LGBTQ community. Pat’s legacy includes numerous landmark cases she litigated over her 14 years as a lawyer with Lambda Legal that transformed the lives of LGBTQ people nationwide. She will be greatly missed.
“Pat was a pioneer. In Nabozny v. Podelsny, Pat won the first-ever court opinion holding that a school has an obligation to protect students from anti-gay harassment. Pat, together with fellow Lambda Legal attorney David Buckel and David Springer at Skadden Arps represented Jamie Nabozny, a gay high school student who had been brutally bullied and assaulted, only to be told by his school that it was his fault for being gay. A jury awarded Jamie close to $1 million. An appeals court upheld the verdict, and the case put school districts nationwide on notice for the first time that they are responsible for protecting students from bullying based on who they are.
“Pat also led the legal battle to rid the nation of sodomy laws that criminalized the intimacy and relationships of same-sex couples. In Lawrence v. Texas, Pat, Lambda Legal’s Legal Director Ruth Harlow, and a team headed by Paul Smith at Jenner succeeded in striking down all such laws nationwide. Paul later reflected that Pat was his toughest and most effective coach as he prepared to argue the case before the United States Supreme Court.
“In multiple cases, Pat fought and won victories on behalf of military service members discharged for violating the ban on gay servicemembers known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the ban on transgender service members, and its ban on military service by people living with HIV.
“Among Pat’s landmark victories, perhaps the most transformative was a series of cases to protect the lives of individual LGBTQ people and their children. Pat won cases across the country ensuring that the children of lesbian, gay, and bisexual parents enjoy a legally protected relationship with the people they know and love as their parents. It is no exaggeration to say that because of Pat’s work, countless thousands of children around the country have grown up knowing–and being loved by—the adults who brought them into their families as parents.
“Lambda Legal and the LGBTQ+ community have lost a giant, and while we mourn her passing, we also express our tremendous gratitude for her life of service to our community.”
In 2007, Judge Logue joined the bench as an associate judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, serving in the Domestic Relations Division. As a judge, she performed marriage ceremonies for many same-sex couples in fitting recognition and celebration of her role in achieving the milestones that made marriage equality possible.
Judge Logue graduated from Brown University and earned her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law. She worked for Jenner & Block, LLP and Business and Professional People for the Public Interest before opening the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal as its managing attorney in 1993. She served as a lawyer with Lambda Legal for 14 years in varying capacities, including as Interim Legal Director and Director of Constitutional Litigation. Before joining the staff, Pat served on Lambda Legal’s board of directors for five years.
In recognition of her scholarship and contributions to the fight for LGBTQ equality, Judge Logue received numerous honors over her lifetime, including the National Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association’s Dan Bradley Award, the highest honor given to outstanding leaders in the LGBTQ legal community, the American Constitution Society Chicago Chapter’s Abner Mikva Legal Legends Award, the Alliance of Illinois Judges (AIJ) From Stonewall to Lawrence Award, and the AIJ Community Leadership Award in recognition of advancing respect, civility, equality, and access to justice for the LGBTQ+ community. She was inducted into Chicago’s LGBT Hall of Fame in 2003.
She is survived by her wife, Marcia Festen, their two daughters, Ruby and Ella, and granddaughter, Hazel. The couple held a commitment ceremony in 2002 and were legally married in 2008 on the beach at Martha’s Vineyard’s Edgartown Lighthouse. She is also survived by siblings Elizabeth (William), Anne Martha (Joseph), Michael, and Tim (Maryanne) and many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held this June in Chicago. Donations in honor of Judge Logue can be made to Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund or the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.