Lambda Legal

Campaigns

Neomi Rao Opposition

Lambda Legal signed a letter with 18 other left-wing organizations in February 2019 urging the Senate not to confirm Trump judicial nominee Neomi Rao to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The letter alleged that Rao holds “essential contempt for those seeking full LGBT equality” and “disdain for the legal needs of LGBT people.” The letter was released amid a campaign against Rao, a critic of liberal administrative law, from left-leaning organizations. ¹

Out At Work (Outat.Work)

Out at Work (or Outat.work) is a project of Lambda Legal that aims to provide legal assistance to people that claim harassment or foul treatment in the work place due to their being LGBT or HIV-positive. The project also aims to serve immigrants and “religious minorities” who require civil rights legal assistance. ²

We Object

We Object is a project of Lambda Legal attacking the the Trump administration and its policy agenda created in reaction to the 2016 presidential election. The We Object page on the Lambda Legal website shows news stories regarding President Trump’s supposed discrimination against the LGBT community. The page links to a page requesting donations to help “fund the resistance.” ³

Wilkins v. Austin

On November 10, 2022, Lambada Legal filed a legal complaint against United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III and United States Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth over a policy within the U.S Department of Defense which “requires that applicants for appointment and enlistment, as well as individuals being inducted into the military Services, be screened for HIV and denied entry if they test positive.” ⁴ Representing plaintiffs that allege they were discriminated against when they tested HIV-positive during the U.S Military recruitment process, including discharged National Guard recruit Isaiah Wilkins, Lambda Legal argues that such policy “violates the plaintiffs’ Equal Protection Rights under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause” ⁵ as well as the Administrative Procedure Act as the Department “failed to update Department of Defense policies regarding HIV medical science and enlistment and enlisted HIV-positive individuals.” ^{5 4}  According to Lambda Legal senior attorney Kara Ingelhart, “This policy undermines efforts to build and maintain a strong, vibrant military, and there’s no scientific support for it. We will keep fighting until it ends.” ⁵

Controversy

Lawyers Accused of “Misconduct”

A 2024 report by three judges from the federal court districts of Alabama accused lawyers from Lambda and similar organizations of “misconduct” following their involvement in three separate lawsuits to challenge the state’s 2022 Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act meant to eliminate hormonal and surgical procedures on minors. The report accused lawyers of “judge-shopping,” which one of the judges claiming the lawyers were involved in “a particularly pernicious form of forum shopping…a practice that has the propensity to create the appearance of impropriety in the judicial system.” ⁶ The group of lawyers are also from similar left-of-center organizations including the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. ⁶

Leadership

CEO

Kevin Jennings is the CEO of Lambda Legal, having been appointed to the position in December 2019. He previously served as Assistant Secretary of Education during the Obama Administration and later the Executive Director of LGBTQ grantmaking organization the Arcus Foundation. ^{7 8 9}

Richard Burns was the interim CEO of Lambda Legal following the October 2018 retirement of CEO Rachel Tiven and before Jennings’ appointment to the position in December 2019. Burns previously served in executive positions at multiple left-leaning giving organizations including the Stonewall Community Foundation, Arcus Foundation, and the LGBT Community Center. ¹⁰ Burns currently serves on the board of directors of Proteus Fund, a left-leaning philanthropy organization that funds liberal advocacy for issues such as internet regulation.

Rachel B. Tiven served as the CEO of Lambda Legal until her resignation in August of 2018 to work for the Democratic Party of Georgia. She previously worked as executive director for Immigration Equality, a LGBTQ and immigration advocacy organization. ^{11 12}

Staff

Jon Davidson served as the legal director for Lambda Legal until 2018. He previously worked as a director of lesbian and gay rights at ACLU of Southern California, an affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a major social-liberal advocacy and litigation organization funded in part by George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, Tides Foundation, and Ford Foundation. ¹³

Sharon McGowan serves as the director of strategy for Lambda Legal. She previously served as a staff attorney for ACLU. McGowan is a member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, an organization funded by the Open Society Foundations and the Human Rights Campaign, one of the largest LGBTQ rights advocacy organizations in the Unites States. ¹⁴

Dorothee Benz is the chief communications officer for Lambda Legal. She previously worked as the director of public affairs for the Brennan Center for Justice, a left-leaning think tank associated with the NYU School of Law. Benz also served as the deputy director of member communications for the United Federation of Teachers, the government worker union for New York City public schoolteachers. ¹⁵

Hayley Gorenberg serves as the deputy legal director for Lambda Legal. She previously worked as co-chair of the civil rights litigation committee of the American Bar Association and as a law clerk at the Sierra Club, one of the largest environmentalist organizations in the United Sates. ¹⁶

Funding

According to its 2017 IRS filing, Lambda Legal reported revenues of $5,014,876 in 2017, more than $10 million less than it did in 2016 when its total revenue was listed as more than $16 million. ¹⁷

The Open Society Foundations made two donations to Lambda Legal totaling almost $500,000 in 2016. ¹⁸

Ford Foundation, a center-left foundation that funds left-wing issues and organizations, has given $1.5 million to Lambda Legal since 2006.

The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, a grantmaking organization that primarily funds social justice-oriented entities, has donated $792,000 to Lambda Legal since 2010. ¹⁹

Overbrook Foundation, a left-leaning foundation, gave $60,000 to Lambda Legal in 2017 and 2018 as part of a three-year grant. ²⁰