For Women’s History Month, we’re reminiscing on the incredible women who have helped Lambda Legal secure legal and lived equality for our community.
Every year when Women’s History Month rolls around, it’s an opportunity to reflect on all the women and femmes who have led our movement forward — and especially those who trusted Lambda Legal to make their cases in courtrooms across America. Queer women have always been an integral part of the LGBTQ+ community, and we couldn’t be more grateful for their unique perspectives, tenacity, lived experiences, and continued contributions to our collective liberation. To celebrate the impact of these women, we’re looking back at five of our brave clients who made queer women’s history.
Janizia Ross
When Janizia Ross was a junior in high school, she took part in a tried-and-true teenage tradition: asking her girlfriend to prom with a creative promposal. However, what should have been a cute moment turned into a threat of suspension and the possibility of not being allowed to attend prom after faculty complained to the school principal. Lambda Legal took on Janizia’s cause and drafted a letter to school administrators emphasizing the school district’s legal responsibility to respect their students’ sexual orientation and not discriminate against them on the basis of their sex. Thanks to Janizia’s bravery and willingness to stand up for herself and other LGBTQ+ students, the school reversed its decision, and the couple was able to enjoy their prom night like any teen.
Jessica Hicklin
In 2016, Jessica Hicklin and Lambda Legal sued the Missouri Department of Corrections and Corizon, LLC. its health care provider for denying Jessica medically necessary care for treatment of gender dysphoria. After two years of tireless advocacy, a federal court struck down the “freeze-frame” policy, which banned denying hormone treatment to any transgender person not receiving such therapy before incarceration. This was one of the first decisions striking down such policies, allowing Jessica hormone therapy, permanent body hair removal, and access to gender-affirming canteen items. Now, Jessica is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at UnlockED Labs, an education platform that enables corrections departments to expand educational offerings, track outcomes, and provide learning experiences for incarcerated students.
Nyla Foster
Artist and community organizer Nyla Foster had been living openly as a woman for more than 15 years when she asked the state of Kansas to correct her birth certificate to accurately reflect her gender. When the state denied her request, Nyla joined Lambda Legal to challenge this outdated policy, suing Kansas. Following a consent judgment in 2018, transgender people born in Kansas were able to correct the gender marker on their birth certificates, allowing them the safety and dignity everyone deserves, until late 2023. Nyla has dedicated her life and career to helping LGBTQ+ folks who have experienced violence, and her legal win was just another example of furthering her work.
Guadalupe “Lupita” Benitez
Starting in 1999, Lupita Benitez was repeatedly denied a basic infertility treatment by the North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group due to her doctors’ religious objections to Lupita’s sexual orientation. The self-identified Christian doctors claimed that their religious beliefs gave them the right to deny Lupita the care she needed because her life partner was a woman — the same care they routinely provided to heterosexual patients. Lambda Legal joined the case in 2001 and reached a settlement with the physicians in 2009 after the California Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that Lupita was entitled to the same care as other patients and that constitutional protections for religious liberty do not allow unlawful sexual orientation discrimination.
Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro & Zulma Oliveras Vega
As we fought for full marriage equality across the United States, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro and Zulma Oliveras Vega joined Lambda Legal in a federal lawsuit challenging Puerto Rico’s ban on same-sex marriage. The couple first met in 2008, building a life together and raising Yolanda’s daughter from a previous relationship. When Yolanda was hospitalized with bronchitis in 2014, the couple wondered what would happen in a medical emergency without the security of a legally recognized marriage. Joining four other couples in our lawsuit, Yolanda and Zulma made history when the marriage ban was overturned in 2015, allowing LGBTQ+ couples to marry, and federal district and appellate courts made clear that Obergefell applied to US territories like Puerto Rico.