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Lambda Legal’s Case Work

For five decades and counting, Lambda Legal has proudly served as attorneys for the LGBTQ+ community and people living with HIV. Find out what’s on our docket right now—and go in depth on each of our current cases below.

Showing 13 of 13 results

Active Case

Facing Foster Care in Alaska v. HHS

Plaintiffs Facing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA), Family Equality, True Colors United, Inc., and Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders...

Case Filed: 02/10/2021

Court: The United States District Court for the District of Columbia

  • Anti-LGBTQ+ Rulings, Laws and Amendments
  • Health Care Fairness
  • Seniors
  • Youth in Out-of-Home Care
  • United States
Active Case

Colosimo v. Berryhill

Lambda Legal filed a motion on behalf of a 75-year-old gay man arguing that the Social Security Administration’s denial of...

Case Filed: 01/16/2019

Court: U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina

  • Anti-LGBTQ+ Rulings, Laws and Amendments
  • Marriage, Relationships and Family Protections
  • Seniors
  • North Carolina
Active Case

Gonzales v. Berryhill

Lambda Legal filed a motion on behalf of a 63-year-old gay man arguing that the Social Security Administration’s denial of...

Case Filed: 12/12/2018

Court: U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico

  • Anti-LGBTQ+ Rulings, Laws and Amendments
  • Marriage, Relationships and Family Protections
  • Seniors
  • New Mexico
Landmark Case

Ely v. Saul (formerly Ely v. Berryhill)

A lawsuit against the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) on behalf of a 65-year-old gay man seeking spousal survivor’s benefits...

Case Filed: 11/20/2018

Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

Decision: Landmark Case

  • Anti-LGBTQ+ Rulings, Laws and Amendments
  • Marriage, Relationships and Family Protections
  • Seniors
  • Arizona
Active Case

Zawadski v. Brewer Funeral Services

Lambda Legal is suing a Picayune, MS, funeral home for denying services for Robert Huskey after finding out he was...

Case Filed: 05/01/2017

Court:

  • Anti-LGBTQ+ Rulings, Laws and Amendments
  • Seniors
  • Mississippi
Closed Case

Birchfield v. Armstrong

After more than 40 years together, Hal Birchfield and James Merrick Smith traveled to New York in October 2012 and...

Case Filed: 08/15/2016

Court:

  • Marriage, Relationships and Family Protections
  • Seniors
  • Florida
Active Case

Wetzel v. Glen St. Andrew Living Community

In a groundbreaking decision, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a landlord may be held liable under the...

Case Filed: 07/26/2016

Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

  • Seniors
  • Illinois
Active Case

Lawrence v. Office of Personnel Management

Case on behalf of a transgender man discriminated against by his federal employer because it denied health care coverage.

Case Filed: 09/15/2015

Court:

  • Health Care Fairness
  • Seniors
  • Transgender and Nonbinary Rights
  • Florida
Active Case

Williams v. Colvin

Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit against the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) on behalf of Dave Williams,...

Case Filed: 11/06/2014

Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

  • Marriage, Relationships and Family Protections
  • Seniors
  • Illinois
Active Case

Murphy v. Colvin

Lambda Legal filed suit against the Social Security Administration (SSA) on behalf of Kathy Murphy, a Texas widow denied spousal...

Case Filed: 10/28/2014

Court: United States District Court for the District of Columbia

  • Marriage, Relationships and Family Protections
  • Seniors
  • Texas
  • Washington, D.C.
Closed Case

Weinstein and Calvani v. Weinreb Management LLC, et al.

Complaint urging a New York City-based landlord to add the wife of lesbian tenant to rent-stabilized apartment lease in accordance...

Case Filed: 12/04/2013

Court: New York Supreme Court

Decision: Victory

  • Seniors
  • New York
Closed Case

Matter of the Estate of Ranftle v. Leiby

Case defending a man’s right to the estate of his deceased spouse with New York’s long-standing law respecting out-of-state marriages...

Case Filed: 10/28/2011

Court:

  • Marriage, Relationships and Family Protections
  • Seniors
  • New York
Closed Case

Franke v. Parkstone Living Center, Inc.

Case brought against assisted living facility on behalf of retiree and his daughter, after the facility evicted the retiree because...

Case Filed: 05/12/2009

Court: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas

  • HIV
  • Seniors
  • Arkansas