Lambda Legal announces it will honor former U.S. Attorney General, the Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr. at its 2024 Liberty Awards National Dinner. Lambda Legal annually presents its most prestigious honor to those who have dedicated their time, talent, and voice to being an advocate for LGBTQ+ equality at its signature red-carpet celebration. This year’s event will be held at The Glasshouse in New York City on Thursday, May 30, 2024. More than 1,000 attendees will join Lambda Legal at the gala to honor advocates, activists and allies in the fight for justice and equality.
Building on last year’s 50th anniversary celebration, the event underscores Lambda Legal’s turn to the future and its ever-intensifying fight for equality for LGBTQ+ people and everyone living with HIV. The event highlights Lambda Legal’s precedent-setting legal wins, on-going defense of civil rights, and dedication to an unstoppable future for LGBTQ+ equality.
“General Holder is a longstanding, outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights,” said Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings. “During his tenure as Attorney General in the Obama Administration, General Holder never wavered in his efforts to win and defend LGBTQ+ rights. From forcefully recognizing the unconstitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act to his outspoken criticism of harmful, discriminatory policies like the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay scout leaders, his legacy as an LGBTQ+ ally will be felt by generations to come.”
The 82nd Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold that office, Holder is an internationally recognized leader across a broad range of regulatory enforcement, criminal justice, and national security issues. Currently Senior Counsel at the Covington law firm, Holder also serves as Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and is the author of Our Unfinished March – the Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote – a History, a Crisis, a Plan. While he was Attorney General, Time Magazine named him to its list of 100 Most Influential People, noting that he had “worked tirelessly to ensure equal justice.”
I am honored to be recognized by Lambda Legal,” said Holder. “I have been privileged to be a part of important wins for equality and fairness, but at no point in the 50-year history of Lambda Legal has the work been more critical. The LGBTQ+ community is facing nationwide attacks on their civil rights, and we must redouble our efforts to defend against the nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in more than 40 state legislatures again this year. As the last line of defense for the LGBTQ+ community, Lambda Legal is prepared – with dozens of active cases underway coast to coast – to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people against this assault.”
The 2024 event will also feature Lisa and Jeffrey Stanton, who were members of PFLAG in Texas and provided powerful evidence in PFLAG v. Abbott of the cruel impacts on their family of the state’s policies targeting transgender young people for discrimination. The suit requests that the court block state investigations of PFLAG families in Texas who are supporting their transgender children with medically necessary health care. In March of this year, the Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, upheld injunctions against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and Commissioner Masters, barring them from implementing the agency’s rule expanding the definition of child abuse outrageously to presumptively treat the provision of gender-affirming care as child abuse.
The Liberty Awards National Dinner is Lambda Legal’s largest event of the year, bringing together supporters, advocates, and allies from across the country to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the fight for justice and equality. Past recipients of the Liberty Award include Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner, Tony and Grammy award winner Billy Porter, Oscar winner Sally Field, pioneering activist Urvashi Vaid, tennis legend and trailblazing activist Billy Jean King, GMHC and ACT-UP Founder Larry Kramer, and many other influential leaders.
For more information about the 2024 Liberty Awards National Dinner, including ticket information and sponsorship opportunities, please visit Lambda Legal’s website at lambdalegal.org/libertyawards. Press credentials available.
Lambda Legal has been at the forefront of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights for 50 years as a national legal nonprofit organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of LGBTQ+ individuals and people living with HIV. Lambda Legal’s lawyers have won precedent-setting civil rights cases on everything from marriage equality to expressions of gender identity to health care discrimination. Through education, advocacy, and legal action, Lambda Legal strives to protect and advance the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, advocating for a society that embraces diversity and inclusivity.