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Indiana Legal Services

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Indiana Legal Services (ILS) is a non-profit law firm that represents low-income people. ILS’s LGBT Law Project focuses on resenting transgender persons who want to change their name or the gender on their birth certificate. 1 ILS also provides assistance to illegal immigrants and has defended an alleged domestic abuser in his deportation case. 2

LGBT Law Project

ILS’s gives legal representation to members of the LGBT community through its LGBT Law Project. One of the major focuses of the project is helping transgender individuals to change their names and the gender on their birth certificate. 3 Over an 18 month period from 2018 to 2019, ILS helped almost 400 transgender persons change their name or the gender on their birth certificate. 4

ILS has stated that a person’s “gender identity …  is the only medically supported determinant of sex” and that a person’s physical characteristics, such as their chromosomes or reproductive organs, do not classify someone as male or female. 5 ILS also helps transgender persons get their health insurance to pay for gender reassignment surgeries. 6

ILS has partnered with Riley Children’s Health, which is Indiana University’s children’s hospital, to provide transgender minors and their families representation. 7 Among the options the hospital lists on its website as available for transgender children it sees for “gender dysphoria” are gender affirming hormone therapy and sex change surgery consultation. 8

Immigration Cases

In 2003, Indiana Legal Services represented Maria Andrianova in her attempt to receive full Medicaid benefits as a non-citizen. 9 If ILS and Andrianova had been successful, recent immigrants would have gained access to government welfare programs that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 sought to prevent by ensuring immigrants needed to be in the United States for five years before obtaining full benefits.

Andrianova was a Russian citizen who obtained a visitor’s visa in 1994, but in 1995 returned to Russia for 19 months to receive medical treatment. After returning to the United States and later becoming a lawful permanent resident, Andrianova sought to receive full Medicaid benefits in 2000. ILS argued that Andrianova’s 19 months in Russia did not interrupt her “continuous presence” in the United States. The court disagreed with ILS’s contention and ruled Andrianova’s presence was interrupted and therefore she was not eligible for full Medicaid benefits. 10

In 2003, ILS defended Jose Ernesto Flores in his deportation case. 11 Federal prosecutors argued that under federal law which allows deportation of an immigrant that commits a “crime of domestic violence” Flores was subject to deportation because he pleaded guilty to battery for beating his wife. Flores’s attack against his wife occurred after a court had already ordered him to not contact his wife due to his past violence towards her. ILS argued that because Indiana’s battery law only required touching which was too low a bar to invoke the immigration law’s “violence” requirement that Flores should not be subject to deportation despite the nature of his crime. The court agreed and blocked Flores’s deportation. 12

Other Cases

In 2013, ILS represented Misty DeMoss during her appeal of the finding that she was in contempt of court. 13 In January 2012, DeMoss was ordered to pay $6,090 related to her prior eviction. The court ordered that if DeMoss received a lump sum payment of Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits, up to half the lump sum must be used to pay her landlord. DeMoss later received a $16,000 SSD payment, but spent $9,000 on a truck, gave $4,000 to her grandmother, bought herself new cloths, and only paid $400 to her landlord. When the judge confronted DeMoss about her spending she interrupted and argued with the judge. After the judge gave her 30 days to rectify the situation, she continued to argue and the judge found her in contempt. The appeals court affirmed the lower court’s contempt finding. 14

ILS represented a client that sought unemployment benefits after quitting only four days into her new job. 15 The client had overstated how much she could lift when she applied to work at a factory and found the job too tasking. As a result, she left work and resigned without telling her boss. The court found the client’s action consisted a voluntary termination of employment and therefore she was not entitled to unemployment benefits. 16

Employees

Jon Laramore has been the executive director of ILS since 2015. 17 Laramore worked as Chief Counsel and Special Counsel in the Indiana Attorney General’s Office under Democrats Pamela Carter and Jeff Modisett. 18 From 2002 to 2005, Laramore served as Chief Counsel to the Governor of Indiana for Democrats Frank O’Bannon and Joe Kernan. 19 Since 1999, Laramore has donated over $28,000 to Democratic candidates and PACs, including the Presidential campaigns of Barack Obama,  Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden. 20

Ken Faulk worked for ILS from 1977 to 1996. In 1996, Faulk became an attorney for the ACLU of Indiana and works as its legal director today. 21

References

  1. “Indiana Name & Gender Marker Change FAQ.” Indiana Legal Services. Accessed December 17, 2020. https://www.indianalegalservices.org/NameGenderMarkerFAQ.
  2. “Immigration.” Indiana Legal Services. Accessed December 17, 2020. https://www.indianalegalservices.org/topics/68/immigration.
  3. “Indiana Name & Gender Marker Change FAQ.” Indiana Legal Services. Accessed December 17, 2020. https://www.indianalegalservices.org/NameGenderMarkerFAQ.
  4. Laramore, Jon. “Re: Notice of Intent to Adopt a Rule, LSA Document #19-486.” November 25, 2019.  https://www.in.gov/bmv/files/lsa19-486-comment-set10.pdf.
  5. Laramore, Jon. “Re: Notice of Intent to Adopt a Rule, LSA Document #19-486.” November 25, 2019.  https://www.in.gov/bmv/files/lsa19-486-comment-set10.pdf.
  6. “Trans Healthcare Rights.” Indiana Legal Services. Accessed December 17, 2020. https://www.indianalegalservices.org/node/1045/trans-healthcare-rights.
  7. “Gender Health Program.” Riley Children’s Health. Accessed December 17, 2020. https://www.rileychildrens.org/departments/gender-health-program.
  8. “Gender Health Program.” Riley Children’s Health. Accessed December 17, 2020. https://www.rileychildrens.org/departments/gender-health-program.
  9. Maria Andrianova v. Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (Indiana Court of Appeals November 20, 2003) https://law.justia.com/cases/indiana/court-of-appeals/2003/11200302-ehf.html.
  10. Maria Andrianova v. Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (Indiana Court of Appeals November 20, 2003) https://law.justia.com/cases/indiana/court-of-appeals/2003/11200302-ehf.html.
  11. Jose Ernesto Flores v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States (United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit November 26, 2003) https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/350/666/625826/.
  12. Jose Ernesto Flores v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States (United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit November 26, 2003) https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/350/666/625826/.
  13. Misty DeMoss v. Toby Dolan (Court of Appeals of Indiana February 15, 2013) https://law.justia.com/cases/indiana/court-of-appeals/2013/55a04-1209-sc-458.html.
  14. Misty DeMoss v. Toby Dolan (Court of Appeals of Indiana February 15, 2013) https://law.justia.com/cases/indiana/court-of-appeals/2013/55a04-1209-sc-458.html.
  15. B.F. v. Review Board of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and Whirlpool Corporation. (Court of Appeals of Indiana August 27, 2010)
  16. B.F. v. Review Board of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and Whirlpool Corporation. (Court of Appeals of Indiana August 27, 2010)
  17. Jon Laramore. LinkedIn. Accessed December 17, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlaramore/.
  18. Jon Laramore. LinkedIn. Accessed December 17, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlaramore/.
  19. Jon Laramore. LinkedIn. Accessed December 17, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlaramore/.
  20. Center for Responsive Politics. “Jon Laramore.” Opensecrets.org. September 10, 2020. Accessed December 15, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Jon+Laramore.
  21. “Kenneth J. Falk.” ACLU of Indiana. Accessed December 16, 2020. https://www.aclu-in.org/en/biographies/kenneth-j-falk.
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