Before ushering in another new year, we at Lambda Legal want to take a moment to highlight some of our achievements and milestones from 2024. We also included other legal and policy news items that greatly impacted the communities we serve.
We are proud of all that Lambda Legal has accomplished these last 12 months, and we’re bringing this momentum into 2025 as we continue our fight for full equality for LGBTQ+ people and everyone living with HIV.
Find our year-in-review list below, presented in chronological order. It’s important to note that what’s mentioned here represents just a tiny, tiny snapshot of an incredibly bustling 2024. One roundup post — or even five! — couldn’t possibly capture the scope of this year’s work.
Queer Justice Makes Its Way Across America
After its initial launch in New York City last year, our Queer Justice museum exhibit continued to make its way across the country to Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas. The exhibit, a collaboration with the American LGBTQ+ Museum, highlights 50 years of Lambda Legal’s historic work and mirrors our new Making the Case for Equality coffee table book (mentioned later on this list).
Queer Justice earned a Merit Award in the 2024 SEGD Global Design Awards, which “celebrates projects that connect people to place through bold and innovative design.”
Speak OUT Storytelling Campaign Launches, Uplifting Trans and Nonbinary Voices
Launched on Transgender Day of Visibility, this powerful multimedia campaign centers trans and nonbinary voices and their stories in their own words.
Speak OUT features transgender and nonbinary youth and adults who are Lambda Legal plaintiffs and staff, as well as community members, activists, and advocates such as Raquel Willis, Jazz Jennings, Desi (Desmond is Amazing), and others. Among the topics covered: gender-affirming health care, school book bans, identity documents, voting, and the future of trans rights.
Biden Administration Issues Rule Clarifying Title IX Protects LGBTQ+ Students in School
In April, the U.S. Department of Education released a revised rule that clarified and confirmed that Title IX protects LGBTQ+ students from discrimination and other abuse in school, reversing the previous administration’s legally unsound and dangerously restrictive rule. Although subsequent legal challenges have currently limited the federal government from enforcing the final rule in specific states and against certain K-12 schools, Lambda Legal continues the fight for equal access to educational opportunities for all LGBTQ+ students in safe and affirming schools.
Fourth Circuit Rejects West Virginia Law Barring Transgender Girls from Student Athletics
In April, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a West Virginia law banning transgender student-athletes from playing on teams consistent with their gender identity, finding the law violates the rights of transgender students under Title IX.
The challenge against the law was filed on behalf of B.P.J., a 13-year-old transgender girl and middle school track athlete. In the ruling, Judge Toby Heytens wrote “offering B.P.J. a ‘choice’ between not participating in sports and participating only on boys teams is no real choice at all. The defendants cannot expect that B.P.J. will countermand her social transition, her medical treatment, and all the work she has done with her schools, teachers, and coaches for nearly half her life by introducing herself to teammates, coaches, and even opponents as a boy.”
Celebrating Our National Liberty Awards and West Coast Liberty Awards
In May, we publicly announced Unstoppable Future: Our Campaign to Win Equality, a $180 million fundraising effort at the Liberty Awards National Dinner in New York City. The event honored former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr with an award presented by journalist and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart. Learn more about our historic campaign here.
In October, we hosted the West Coast Liberty Awards at in Los Angeles, where we honored transgender activist and content creator Dylan Mulvaney alongside the legendary George Takei with Liberty Awards. Chart-topping performing artist David Archuleta added to the evening with inspiring words and a powerful performance.
Biden Administration Pardons U.S. Military Veterans Convicted under Discriminatory Anti-LGBTQ+ Regulations
This past June, President Biden announced the pardon of more than 2,000 veterans convicted under discriminatory anti-LGBTQ+ military codes that outlawed consensual relations between same-sex service members for more than 60 years.
Lambda Legal’s fight against discrimination in the military extends back to 1975 and includes its successful representation of Col. (Ret.) Margarethe Cammermeyer, its long fight against the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, and its recent successful representation of transgender service members and transgender people looking to enlist who were targeted by the Trump administration.
This long-overdue action made right a historic wrong and restored to LGBTQ+ veterans the honor for their service that should never have been denied.
The Release of Our Report Safe Havens II: We Must Affirm and Support Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender Diverse Youth in Out-of-Home Systems
Created in collaboration with a group of young advocates and our partners at Children’s Rights, Unicorn Solutions LLC, Center for the Study of Social Policy, Safe Havens II highlights the ongoing challenges transgender and nonbinary youth face in out-of-home systems across the nation and the dearth of programs and policies to safely prevent system involvement and promote youth acceptance by their families and communities.
For this update to 2017’s Safe Havens I, we joined forces with Elliott Hinkle, lived experience co-author and principal and founder of Unicorn Solutions, who conducted a series of interviews with seven young adult contributors with lived experience in child welfare, juvenile legal, and youth homelessness systems.
We celebrated the report’s launch with a special panel event moderated by Dominique Jackson, transgender model, author, and actress best known for playing Elektra on FX’s Pose.
The Launch of Lambda Legal’s Pro Bono Clearinghouse
In late July, we announced the launch of the Perry McKay Pro Bono Clearinghouse, an enhanced program to effectively recruit, utilize and retain pro bono counsel to support impact litigation protecting the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV. The program will help increase pro bono hours by at least 52 percent – up to 10,500 hours annually – by the end of 2026. It was made possible through a generous grant of $1 million from Chicago philanthropist Perry S. McKay.
Court Strikes Down Last Categorical Disqualification to Military Service for Those Living with HIV
In April, a U.S. District Court struck down the last categorical disqualification preventing people living with HIV from joining any branch of the U.S. Armed Services.
The ruling came in our lawsuit, Wilkins v. Austin, which we filed in November 2022 alongside Peter Perkowski, Esq., Scott A. Schoettes, Esq., and Winston & Strawn LLP.
“This is a victory not only for me but for other people living with HIV who want to serve,” said Plaintiff Isaiah Wilkins. “As I’ve said before, giving up on my dream to serve my country was never an option. I am eager to apply to enlist in the Army without the threat of a crippling discriminatory policy.”
For more about our HIV advocacy work, check out our updated Know Your Rights page.
Celebrating 50 Years of Advocacy and Landmark LGBTQ+ Legal Battles with “Making the Case for Equality” Coffee Table Book
Authored by Lambda Legal’s most senior attorney, Jennifer C. Pizer, and leading political scientist Ellen Ann Andersen, “Making the Case for Equality” opens Lambda Legal’s archives to present a richly illustrated commemorative book celebrating 50 years of trailblazing advocacy, perfectly timed to inspire confidence and engagement for the challenges ahead.
The book highlights dozens of landmark legal cases that have advanced civil rights for LGBTQ+ people, shaping key areas such as education, family law, employment, healthcare, child welfare policy, immigration, and the criminal legal system. Significant cases featured in the book include Nabozny v. Podlesny (1996), Lawrence v. Texas (2003), Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group (2008), Taylor v. Rice (2008), Glenn v. Brumby (2011), and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015).
Lambda Legal Report Reveals the Harmful Legacy of Trump’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Federal Judges
In the first weeks of the new U.S. Supreme Court’s term, Lambda Legal released a comprehensive report detailing the far-reaching consequences of the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ+ judicial appointees on LGBTQ+ civil rights and civil rights more broadly.
Between 2017 and 2020, 234 federal judges were appointed by former President Trump — including three U.S. Supreme Court justices. After careful review of their records, Lambda Legal formally opposed 34 judicial nominees, due to their explicit records of anti-LGBTQ+ bias, including the three U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
“Trump’s judicial picks have had a profoundly negative impact on civil rights, including for LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV,” said Ethan Rice, senior attorney for the Fair Courts Project at Lambda Legal. “We warned the Senate about the extremist views of Trump’s judicial nominees and formally opposed confirming 34 nominees, due to their records of anti-LGBTQ+ bias. But many of these nominees were confirmed, and their decisions have since rolled back decades of progress.
U.S. v. Skrmetti Oral Arguments at the Supreme Court and Freedom to Be Ourselves Rally
On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the Supreme Court heard U.S. v. Skrmetti, Lambda Legal and the ACLU’s case on behalf of families and medical providers challenging a Tennessee ban on best practice medical care for transgender youth. This historic case is crucial for the future of the rights of trans youth across the country.
Outside of the court, hundreds of people joined us in our Freedom to Be Ourselves rally, which featured inspiring speeches from trans advocates and activists, trans youth, and celebrities like Peppermint, Ilana Glazer, and Elliot Page. The ACLU’s Chase Strangio presented oral argument with U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, and Chase also took the stage to address the bustling rally crowd.
Montana Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Families and Doctors, Blocks Ban on Health Care for Transgender Youth
In December, The Montana Supreme Court ruled in favor of families and doctors, temporarily blocking a ban on health care for transgender youth!
The ruling blocks SB 99, a 2023 Montana law that seeks to categorically ban life-saving gender-affirming care for transgender youth, while litigation on the law continues. This ruling will allow Montana communities and families to continue accessing medical treatments for transgender minors with gender dysphoria.