Fellowship launches the Del Martin Memorial LGBTQ Elder Advocacy Initiative
(San Francisco, CA, July 6, 2010) —Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) announced the expansion of the organization’s pioneering elder law advocacy work with the launch of the Del Martin LGBTQ Elder Advocacy Initiative. Daniel R. Redman, Esq. joins NCLR as the recipient of both the Pride Law Fund Tom Steel Fellowship and the Berkeley Law Foundation (BLF) Fellowship. Building on NCLR’s decade-long commitment to fighting for LGBTQ seniors, the Del Martin Initiative focuses on LGBTQ elders in long-term care facilities and other institutional settings. Through litigation, legislative work, and outreach to eldercare professionals, the project aims to make sure that LGBTQ elders are treated with dignity, care, and respect.
“We are deeply grateful to the Pride Law Fund and the Berkeley Law Foundation for their generous support of this project,” said NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell. “NCLR’s pending case on behalf of Clay Greene, who was subjected to egregious mistreatment by officials from Sonoma County before and after the death of Clay’s long-term male partner, illustrates the profound vulnerabilities LGBTQ elders face. In coordination with advocates across the state, Daniel has already begun work drafting regulations to implement a law requiring LGBT-inclusive trainings for nursing home personnel. The Del Martin LGBTQ Elder Advocacy Initiative promises immediate results.”
“BLF is thrilled to invest in the Del Martin Initiative’s cutting-edge work on behalf of LGBTQ seniors nationwide,” said BLF President Holly Baldwin. “This project has it all: a dynamic young attorney working at an organization with a terrific track record of achieving social justice to support an underserved community with pressing legal needs. We couldn’t be more proud of Daniel and look forward to hearing about the Initiative’s successes for years to come.”
Redman received his J.D. in 2008 from the UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where he was an articles editor of the California Law Review, student notes editor of the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, and a research assistant to Professor Joan Hollinger. Prior to Boalt, he worked as a legal assistant at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders. During law school, he clerked at NCLR, worked as a summer associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York, and externed with the ACLU-LGBTQ Project. After graduation, he joined Cooley Godward Kronish’s San Francisco office where, as a litigation associate, he continued to do pro bono work on behalf of LGBTQ clients. Redman has written on LGBTQ issues for Slate, The American Prospect, The New Republic, The Nation, Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, and Connecticut Law Review.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education.
Pride Law Fund promotes the legal rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, and people living with HIV and AIDS, by funding summer fellowships for law students and year-long fellowships for recent law school graduates working at nonprofit organizations on special projects, education and outreach and providing legal services. The 2010-2011 Tom Steel Fellowship is funded, in part, by generous donations from Fenwick & West LLP and Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom. www.pridelawfund.org.
The Berkeley Law Foundation was founded by graduates of Berkeley Law in 1976. Since then, BLF members have pooled their funds to support law fellows working on 80 innovative projects that provide desperately needed legal services to at-risk communities all around the nation. Applications for BLF fellowships are available in the fall of each year at www.boalt.org/blf.
