Regional Lavender Law – January 26, 2008:
SCHEDULE POSTED!

The Minnesota Lavender Bar Association is pleased to announce that the schedule of sessions at the annual Regional Lavender Law conference is now posted on our website. Click here: http://www.mnlavbar.org/UpcomingEvts.htm  A PDF of the conference brochure, including a registration form, is available on-line for downloading and circulating. Click here for brochure and registration form. We are very proud of the line-up of speakers and topics for 2008 and hope you will be as well. Please make a plan today to join us for this terrific event.

Also – the evening before the conference, on Friday, January 25, the students of OutLaw at the University of St. Thomas Law School are inviting members of the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association and of their counterpart student organizations at all Minnesota law schools to join them for a pre-conference reception! This event was last held in 2006, and was a great success. State Sen. Scott Dibble (a St. Thomas alum) will speak, and OutLaw is working on one other important speaker. More details will follow – but please plan to attend!

MLBA well-represented at attorneys’ demonstration in support of Pakistani lawyers, rule of law

Despite strong wind and a little snow, dozens of attorneys stood on the steps of the Minnesota Judicial Center on November 14 in a show of support for our lawyer colleagues in Pakistan, who have been leading protests against the suspension of that country’s constitution and assaults on its judicial system. This event, organized by the Minnesota State Bar Association in conjunction with similar events nationwide, featured a number of speakers, including MLBA co-chair Kelly Just Olmstead (see photo at right). Among other things, Kelly reminded participants that “It is our special obligation as lawyers – our burden, our privilege – to stand up for the rule of law. We are specially situated, by virtue of our status, knowledge, and most especially our access to the legal system, to educate our friends, neighbors, and leaders about the value and necessity of maintaining the rule of law.”

Tyron Garner Memorial Fellowship for African-American LGBT Civil Rights, Summer 2008

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is proud to announce the establishment of the Tyron Garner Memorial Fellowship for African-American LGBT Civil Rights. The first fellowship will be awarded to a law student or recent law graduate to work in any of Lambda Legal's five offices during the summer of 2008.

The Tyron Garner Memorial Fellowship for African-American LGBT Civil Rights has been established to honor the memory of Tyron Garner, one of the men we represented in our groundbreaking Supreme Court victory, Lawrence and Garner v. Texas (which struck down all remaining state sodomy laws in the country) and to expand Lambda Legal's work in the African-American LGBT communities. Tyron Garner died in 2006, after his case vindicated the constitutional right to express sexual intimacy in adult relationships. Through the Garner Fellowship, Lambda Legal will sponsor the work of a talented law student or recent law graduate with a strong interest in LGBT and HIV issues affecting African-American communities and with experience working in African-American communities. Please see the PDF for more information.