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Address:   120 Wall Street
Suite 1500
New York, NY   10005
Year Founded:   1973
Website:   http://www.lambdalegal.org
Phone Number:   (212) 809-8585

Mission Statement:
  Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, the transgendered, and people with HIV or AIDS through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.
 

Methods:
  Lambda Legal carries out its legal work principally through test cases selected for the likelihood of their success in establishing positive legal precedents. From its offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and Dallas, Lambda Legal's staff of attorneys works on a wide range of cases, with our docket averaging over 50 cases at any given time.

Lambda Legal pursues litigation in every area of the law that affects the communities it represents, such as discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and the military; HIV/AIDS-related discrimination and public policy issues; parenting and relationship issues; equal marriage rights; equal employment and domestic partnership benefits; "sodomy" law challenges; immigration issues; anti-gay initiatives; and free speech and equal protection rights.
 

In Their Own Words:
 
It was nothing short of a revolutionary idea 30 years ago—create a national legal organization dedicated to achieving full equality for gay and lesbian people. There were no groups whose principal mission was fighting for gay rights in the nation's courts. And the courts initially tried to stop the first one. Lambda Legal's application to be a nonprofit organization was denied unanimously by a panel of New York judges because, in their view, our mission was "neither benevolent nor charitable." But just as we have countless times since, we fought on until we won. In 1973, after nearly two years of legal battles, New York's highest court finally allowed Lambda Legal to exist.

Today, Lambda Legal continues with our strategic efforts to win full equality piece by piece. We're pushing forward with aggressive efforts to win marriage equality, the ability of LGBT people to be out at work and not fear being fired, full recognition of gay parents and the rights of LGBT people to be treated equally and fairly by their government in every way. We've grown from a couple of volunteers in someone's apartment to a staff of more than 80 with a national headquarters and four regional offices across the country. Our first case—fighting for the right to exist and to become the nation's most powerful force for LGBT legal rights—was about being recognized like everybody else and being treated equally. That's the same fight we've waged with strength, strategy and success on behalf of LGBT people ever since. We've shaped the past 30 years, and now we're shaping the future.
 

Financials:
Total Income:   $9,741,312
Total Expenses:   $9,939,351
Amount Spent on Programs:   $6,862,953
Percentage Spent on Programs:   69.05%
Reporting Year:   2005

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