In 2020, Trump used the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to invoke Title 42 – an existing public health law – to severely restrict migrants’ entry into the United States. This means that Title 42 was legislation created in the past, but what exactly does it do or why was it created? Title 42 is part of a public health emergency law enacted in 1944 called the Public Health Service Act. The law was enacted to prevent the spread of communicable diseases and allows health authorities to deny individuals...
Ana Garcia (she/her) – Philanthropy Assistant As a UC Berkeley alumni, Ana Garcia comes to NCLR after working for the Pacific School of Religion. She’s committed to working on issues that concern youth development and is inspired by the legal work that NCLR does on behalf of LGBTQ kids. Where do you currently reside? Oakland, CA What is your educational background? Graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in English and Religious Studies, and the University of San Francisco with an MA...
On June 30, 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled that certain businesses that involve customized expressive messages may turn away same-sex couples or other customers. The ruling came in the case 303 Creative v. Elenis, in which the Court addressed whether a website designer in Colorado could refuse to design wedding websites for same-sex couples. Watch this webinar with Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon, Legal Director Shannon Minter, and Federal Policy Director Julie Gonen for a...
Juneteenth commemorates the anniversary of Union General Gordon Granger’s belated announcement of freedom from slavery in Texas on June 19th, 1865, delivered over two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In directing Confederate states to “recognize and maintain the freedom” of formerly enslaved Black Americans, and to refrain from repressing “any efforts they may make for their actual freedom,” President Lincoln understood that he could not impart actual freedom...
We invite you to join NCLR today as we honor the 49 lives lost – and the countless others forever changed – at the tragedy at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL on June 12, 2016. On the anniversary of that horrific night when so many of our community were murdered in a senseless act of gun violence, we not only remember those taken from us, we also join those who pledge to Honor Them With Action. As a young queer Latino and Orlando native who frequently visited Pulse, the nightmare of that...
“An Exercise in Politics, Not Good Medicine” This year, in a coordinated attack on the LGBTQ community, legislators in states across the country have passed scores of laws that threaten and endanger LGBTQ people, their families, and their communities. NCLR has been at the forefront of the fight against anti-LGBTQ laws for decades, but we have never seen such an aggressive campaign against LGBTQ youth and their families. NCLR will keep fighting these unconstitutional laws,...
Janine Grgurina (she/her) – Legal Assistant A UC Santa Cruz alumni, Janine Grgurgina comes to us after running a voter registration campaign and working on behalf of affordable housing. She is interested in advocating for transgender healthcare and reproductive justice and is excited to be working for NCLR because of our positive impact on the LGBTQ community. Where do you currently reside? Noe Valley, San Francisco What is your educational background?Bachelor of Arts in Sociology...
We’ve had two more additions to the NCLR team recently! Help us welcome our new Staff Attorney, KJ Popkin, and our Director of People, Culture, and Equity, Shauna Madison! KJ Popkin (they/them) – Staff Attorney KJ Popkin comes to us with a breadth of experience working on social justice issue cases ranging from police brutality to abortion bans. They were led to NCLR because they believe it is “crucial to go where the need is greatest,” and are motivated to work on behalf of...
Over the past year, we have seen more than 475 anti-LGBTQ laws introduced in dozens of states all across the country. From restricting healthcare for transgender youth to trying to erase LGBTQ people from public education and banning trans kids from playing sports in their schools, the non-stop wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation has never been more intense than it is right now. Included in the list of discriminatory and unjust laws we are seeing pass in states like Tennessee and...
Brooklyn’s Family Court was rife with gossip during my time representing children, teens, and young adults involved with the family regulation[1] (also known as “child welfare”) system. One rumor concerned youths living in institutions who had removed their own IUDs, hoping to become pregnant. Its tellers’ tones were contemptuous toward the young people who had risked their health in pursuit of riskier pregnancies that would destroy their futures. I winced in imagined pain and went on to the...
