My name is Jenny Pizer, and I am Lambda Legal’s Chief Legal Officer.
I’ve been one of Lambda Legal’s senior attorneys for many years, but I’ve never shared my coming-out story broadly with our community. So today, in the spirit of National Coming Out Day, I’d like to tell how my coming out journey inspired me to join Lambda Legal’s fight for LGBTQ+ equality.
Like many LGBTQ+ people, I’ve had to come out again and again throughout my life. The first time was on November 4, 1980. That night, the country turned sharply to the right and elected Ronald Reagan. I went in the opposite direction, right into the arms of the woman who had fascinated me for months.
The two-year relationship that followed inspired my search for what it would mean for me to be a lesbian. At that time, in the early 80s, it meant being closeted at my day job as a paralegal. My skirted suits and heels felt like I was in drag! And then, on nights and weekends, I climbed a narrow staircase to a Boston gay bookstore and soaked in our culture. Most exciting, though, was navigating the back alleys and subtly marked doors to the clubs that welcomed us.
But, while these semi-secret spaces were thrilling, I also learned that visibility meant street harassment, discrimination, police abuse, and the constant fear of violence. I had been planning to pursue a career in feminist lawyering. But the awful vulnerability – having to hide and dissemble – persuaded me to seek a law school where I could be out and proud, where I could bring my feminist outlook into the queer justice movement that had become deeply personal.
I was like a moth to the bright lights of Greenwich Village, and wisely so. On my first day at NYU School of Law, I met the woman who, a while later, would become my life partner. We will celebrate 40 years together tomorrow!
Soon after, I began a law student internship at Lambda Legal, which then had just a shoebox-sized office and one staff lawyer. Seven years later, I was honored to join the Board. Three years after that, in January 1996, I joined the staff as an attorney.
Over these many years, I repeatedly have seen the impact of talking about my own life’s journey while advocating for change. As a lawyer in this movement, I’m often in a dual role in which many of the rights and freedoms we’re working to advance affect me and my loved ones personally. I’ve seen how it matters when I decide to be vulnerable, to share my own story with the community or the press, and to add to the broad evolution that happens when more and more of us come out.
Coming out dispels disinformation, counters harmful rhetoric, and showcases the humanity behind our stories. It shows that our community is authentic, that we’re resilient, and that we’re insisting on basic justice.
As I look back at Lambda Legal’s half-century of courageous advocacy, I’m deeply proud to have been part of a movement that has pressed forward at every step to win freedom and protections for LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV.
That’s why I’ve co-authored a new book that invites readers to savor some of our critical challenges and greatest victories, Making the Case for Equality: 50 Years of Legal Milestones in LGBTQ History.
This beautiful coffee table book is a love letter to the thousands of people responsible for Lambda Legal’s rich, vibrant, and extraordinary history. It weaves together court cases, personal stories, historical images, and newspaper clippings to create an immersive experience of our diverse needs, strategies, and progress as a movement.
Making the Case for Equality will be available for purchase starting October 29!
I hope you’ve enjoyed and perhaps related to my coming-out story and how it brought me into our broader movement. And I hope you are inspired to support our ongoing work by purchasing a copy of this celebratory book!
Whatever your identity might be, and whether you’re out to your friends, to the public, or anywhere in between, I hope you find satisfaction and inspiration in knowing that everyone’s coming out journey is unique and important!
Happy National Coming Out Day!