Why the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) matters to all of us in this time of great change and why I hope that you'll join me in supporting NCLR.
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By Emily Doskow, Esq.
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Emily Doskow has served on the National Center for Lesbian Rights' Board of Directors since 2005.
Emily is legal editor of Nolo, which offers affordable, plain-English books, forms and software on a wide range of legal issues.
She is also a practicing attorney and mediator. Emily is the author of Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce and the editor of many Nolo titles.
Emily specializes in family law, including adoption, parentage issues, domestic partnership formation and dissolution, and divorce.
She is a graduate of the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley.
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HOW NCLR HAS GROWN
I first got involved with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) when I was a newly out lesbian law student. I spent a semester as an intern at NCLR, which was then called the Lesbian Rights Project and was a small operation using offices in the suite occupied by a larger non-profit in San Francisco. I've continued to work with NCLR ever since then, as a member, donor, cooperating attorney, and now as Secretary of the Board of Directors.
In the twenty years that I've been involved with NCLR in one way or another, I've seen it grow from its shared quarters and tiny budget to a truly national organization with offices in California, Florida, and the District of Columbia, a four million dollar budget, and a staff of 25.
More important, though, I've seen it grow into an organization that does a miraculous job of balancing leadership on a national level with meaningful direct services to individual clients in cases that have significant and lasting impact for every single one of us in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
WHAT NCLR DOES FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY
In the broadest strokes, NCLR is a 31-year-old public interest law firm that provides legal representation, public policy advocacy, and public education on issues of importance to the LGBT community, with a unique gender, racial, and economic justice lens. Its original focus was family law, and NCLR is lead counsel in the California same sex marriage equality case, but current programs cover the broad spectrum of legal needs in our community, including:
> Elder law
> Employment
> Families and Parenting
> Healthcare
> Immigration
> Marriage and Relationship Recognition
> Sports
> Transgender Law
> Youth Issues
In short, if you - or someone you love - are a member of the LGBT community, your life today has been made better by NCLR. Most of us don't know that, but it's true. For the past 30-plus years, NCLR has been at the forefront of nearly ever legal gain won for LGBT people in this country.
On a personal level, I know that my partner and I live happily, freely, and with our relationship as protected as possible because of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
WHAT NCLR DOES FOR LGBT ATTORNEYS
Along with its big picture goals, NCLR also provides on-the-ground support for lawyers working in the field of LGBT law. I have been a member of the local Family Law Committee for as long as I've been practicing. The local meetings in San Francisco are an opportunity for those of us practicing in this cutting edge field to get together and discuss our cases and to work with NCLR's attorneys on important local issues.
What's more, NCLR's National Family Law Advisory Committee that brings together attorneys from across the country in an ongoing dialogue about national issues is the first of its kind and is unprecedented in its support and effectiveness. And NCLR provides practical support for cooperating attorneys litigating LGBT cases all over the country.
NCLR'S VISION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR ALL
When I was an intern at NCLR, the organization was representing a gay, HIV+ man who was fighting for custody of his son in the face of a homophobic, AIDS-phobic ex-wife and court system.
There was controversy in the community then over the merits of a lesbian organization representing a gay man, and it was how I came to understand and commit to one of NCLR's most important values: there is no Us and Them in the movement for social justice.
Kate Kendell, NCLR's brilliant and visionary executive director, consistently sets an example of leadership that inspires and educates everyone around her. She demonstrates her own and the organization's commitment to social justice for everyone with every action she takes. Whether the issue is immigration, reproductive rights, or the struggle to pass an inclusive ENDA, Kate's voice is raised in support of the rights of those whose fight might not, on the surface, look like our fight.
WHY NCLR GETS MY TIME AND MONEY
I live and work in one of the gayest places in the world, the San Francisco Bay Area. There are so many great organizations here, and not just LGBT organizations, but other nonprofits doing important work on issues I care about deeply like breast cancer, reproductive rights, and poverty. I could devote my precious hours and my hard-earned money to any one of a number of groups and feel really good about it.
So why NCLR?
Because of the commitment to a goal of social justice that leaves no one behind.
Because of the integrity, intelligence, and vision of Kate Kendell's leadership and the talent and dedication of the NCLR staff.
Because of the character and commitment of the incredible women it's my privilege to serve with on the Board of Directors.
Because NCLR has supported my work and that of countless other LGBT attorneys practicing in a complex, cutting edge area of law.
Because NCLR is a good steward of my money-a very high 80 per cent of it goes directly to legal programs and services.
Because they are effective and change people's lives. It always comes back to that-a vision that includes the possibility of a world with true equality for all.
For all these reasons, I truly hope that you will join me in supporting the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
