National LGBT Bar Association Launches COMMIT to INCLUSION Campaign
Nationwide Initiative Urges Attorneys to Reject Anti-LGBT Legal Groups and Deny Pro Bono Services that Would Advance their Discriminatory Agenda
WASHINGTON, July 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The National LGBT Bar Association announces a new campaign that asks attorneys across the nation to COMMIT to INCLUSION by repudiating anti-LGBT legal groups like Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Liberty Counsel and pledging never to support them through pro bono services.
"For more than 25 years, groups like Alliance Defending Freedom and Liberty Counsel have overseen an army of litigators and waged a systematic, insidious, and well-funded crusade to strip protections from LGBT people," said LGBT Bar Association Executive Director D'Arcy Kemnitz. "With the recent Supreme Court decision in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, the announced retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, and more and more court victories for those seeking a license to discriminate, fair-minded attorneys committed to diversity must push back. If we don't take these threats seriously and act accordingly, we could face long term legal setbacks for LGBT people."
The COMMIT to INCLUSION campaign includes a fact sheet detailing the history of these anti-LGBT legal groups, their enormous budgets, and a sample list of cases in which they have sought to harm LGBT people. It also includes a one-minute video featuring: National LGBT Bar Executive Director, D'Arcy Kemnitz; Chief Counsel, Freedom for All Americans Education Fund, Jon Davidson; and Cathy Sakimura, Family Law Director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. That video can be viewed and shared here.
The COMMIT to INCLUSION pledge reads in part: "We commit to inclusion by ensuring that our personal pro bono and volunteer capacity and personal financial resources will not be used to support the work of ADF and Liberty Counsel."
"This campaign is a call to action to warn attorneys about anti-LGBT legal groups and their dangerous and strategic efforts to chip away at legal protections for LGBT people," said Kemnitz. "We are imploring the legal profession to hold back pro bono resources that would help these groups advance their discriminatory agenda. When you help anti-LGBT legal groups - even on matters not relating to LGBT issues - you hurt LGBT people. Join us today. COMMIT to INCLUSION."
COMMIT to INCLUSION runs from July 24 through September 27.
Link to campaign materials here.
SOURCE National LGBT Bar Association
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