The National Center for Lesbian Rights was a lead partner with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the development of the administration’s historic Hospital Visitation Rule. The Rule came at the direction of President Obama who urged HHS to identify ways to protect the hospital visitation rights of all patients through policy change. NCLR worked closely with HHS on the final rule, which guarantees equal treatment in hospital visitation to all patients and their loved ones regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, biological relationship, or marital status. Subsequent to the introduction of that Rule in 2011, we have worked closely with HHS on implementation. We co-hosted a webinar with HHS, which provided education on the impact of the Rule and “Best Practices‚” for working with the LGBTQ community. We continue to work with HHS to clarify that this Rule also applies to nursing homes and hospice facilities.

All students should be able to receive an education in an environment that is safe and inclusive. Unfortunately, many schools in the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota presented a frightening and harmful toxic environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students.

Vanessa Adams is a transgender woman who was diagnosed by Federal Bureau of Prison (BOP) medical professionals with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in 2005 while she was incarcerated in a BOP prison. Over the next few years, she made at least 19 written requests asking for medical treatment for GID. The BOP denied all of her requests outright based on its so-called “freeze frame” policy in which treatment for any person with GID is kept frozen at the level provided at the time he or she entered BOP custody. In Ms. Adams’ case, this meant that because she had not received treatment for GID before being incarcerated, BOP would not provide her with medically necessary care even though its own doctors diagnosed her with GID, told her about treatments available for GID, and knew about the seriousness of her medical condition. As a result of these denials of treatment, Ms. Adams attempted suicide multiple times and engaged in other avenues of self- treatment in an attempt to live more consistently with her gender identity.

On December 22, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act (Repeal), which allowed for the repeal of the 1994 federal policy that barred LGB people from serving openly in the military. As President Obama remarked during the signing of the bill, “No longer will tens of thousands of Americans in uniform be asked to live a lie, or look over their shoulder in order to serve the country that they love.”

As a result of the 1994 DADT policy, more than 13,500 women and men were discharged from the military because of their sexual orientation. Of equal importance, of the 619 people discharged under DADT in 2008, 45 percent were people of color (who represent 30 percent of the military), and 34 percent were women (who make up only 14 percent).

In December of 2010, legislation passed both the House and Senate and provided a pathway for the DADT repeal. Two months earlier, a federal judge in the Central District of Columbia held that DADT was unconstitutional.

In the months that followed Congress’ measure, the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certified in writing that they had reviewed the Pentagon’s report on the effects of DADT repeal and informed Congress that the Department of Defense had prepared the necessary policies and regulations to implement the repeal and those policies and regulations comported with military standards for readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and military recruiting and retention. On September 20, 2011, DADT was officially repealed.

Today, gay and lesbian service members are permitted to openly serve, and those who were previously discharged as a result of DADT, are able to re-enlist.

Like many public schools, the University of California – Hastings College of the Law allowed law students to organize student groups that could apply for university funding and other resources for group-related events. In 2004, the Christian Legal Society (CLS) filed a lawsuit against Hastings, arguing that the nondiscrimination policy violated the group’s First Amendment right to discriminate against LGBTQ and non-Christian students.