LGBTQ Rights
Mahmoud v. McKnight
On April 9, 2025, the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ and ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ of Maryland filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in its efforts to ensure that its English Language Arts curriculum is LGBTQ-inclusive.
Status: Ongoing
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Florida
Nov 2023

LGBTQ Rights
+2 Issues
Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida v. Raymond Rodrigues
The University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine filed a lawsuit on November 16, 2023, challenging the Chancellor of the State University System of Florida’s order to state universities to deactivate the student group. This order threatens the students’ constitutionally-protected right to free speech and association in violation of the First Amendment. The ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ and its partners are seeking a preliminary injunction that would bar the Chancellor and the University of Florida from deactivating the UF SJP.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2020

LGBTQ Rights
R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v EEOC & Aimee Stephens
Aimee Stephens had worked for nearly six years as a funeral director at R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes when she informed the funeral home’s owner that she is a transgender woman. She was fired, the EEOC sued on her behalf, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Aimee’s employer engaged in unlawful sex discrimination when it fired her because she’s transgender. We represented Aimee Stephens in front of the U.S. Supreme Court — and won.
U.S. Supreme Court
Sep 2019

LGBTQ Rights
Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda
Don Zarda loved to skydive. He worked as a skydiving instructor at Altitude Express, a company on Long Island, N.Y. He was fired for being gay.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2018

LGBTQ Rights
Religious Liberty
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission
Whether a business open to the public has a constitutional right to discriminate.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2015

LGBTQ Rights
Obergefell, et al. v. Hodges - Freedom to Marry in Ohio
The ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥, the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ of Ohio and Alphonse Gerhardstein of Gerhardstein & Branch have filed suit on behalf of Jim Obergefell and David Michener, two widowers, and Robert Grunn, a funeral director, in a challenge to the Ohio constitutional and statutory marriage recognition bans.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2015

LGBTQ Rights
Bourke v. Beshear & Love v. Beshear - Freedom to Marry in Kentucky
Bourke v. Beshear is a federal court challenge to Kentucky's constitutional ban on marriage for same-sex couples, filed by attorneys at Clay Daniel Walton & Adams and Fauver Law Office on July 26, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The plaintiffs are four same-sex couples seeking state recognition of their out-of-state marriages.
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187 LGBTQ Rights Cases

Court Case
Jun 2023
LGBTQ Rights
Vasquez v. Iowa Department of Human Services
On May 31st, 2019, the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ of Iowa and National ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ LGBTQ and HIV Project filed a lawsuit to block implementation of an Iowa law that was recently passed to restore the ban on Medicaid coverage for essential, gender-affirming surgery to transgender Iowans that the Iowa Supreme recently struck down.
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Court Case
Jun 2023

LGBTQ Rights
Vasquez v. Iowa Department of Human Services
On May 31st, 2019, the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ of Iowa and National ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ LGBTQ and HIV Project filed a lawsuit to block implementation of an Iowa law that was recently passed to restore the ban on Medicaid coverage for essential, gender-affirming surgery to transgender Iowans that the Iowa Supreme recently struck down.

Nebraska Supreme Court
May 2023
LGBTQ Rights
Reproductive Freedom
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Hilgers
In May 2023, the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ and the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ of Nebraska filed a lawsuit on behalf of Nebraska abortion providers and their patients challenging a state law that bans physicians from providing abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy and that, as of October 2023, will restrict health care available to trans youth. The ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ has asked a state court in Nebraska to enter an emergency order blocking the law’s enforcement. The Court ruled that the two halves of L.B. 574 fall within the single subject of regulating health care, and thus the Court held that L.B. 574 does not violate the single-subject rule. Consequently, the abortion ban and gender-affirming care restrictions in L.B. 574 remain in effect. However, the Court did reject the state’s argument that the single-subject is a nonjusticiable political question.
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Nebraska Supreme Court
May 2023

LGBTQ Rights
Reproductive Freedom
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Hilgers
In May 2023, the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ and the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ of Nebraska filed a lawsuit on behalf of Nebraska abortion providers and their patients challenging a state law that bans physicians from providing abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy and that, as of October 2023, will restrict health care available to trans youth. The ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ has asked a state court in Nebraska to enter an emergency order blocking the law’s enforcement. The Court ruled that the two halves of L.B. 574 fall within the single subject of regulating health care, and thus the Court held that L.B. 574 does not violate the single-subject rule. Consequently, the abortion ban and gender-affirming care restrictions in L.B. 574 remain in effect. However, the Court did reject the state’s argument that the single-subject is a nonjusticiable political question.

West Virginia
May 2023
LGBTQ Rights
Hersom v. Crouch
Xavier Hersom applied for and was denied a gender marker change on his birth certificate. He said DHHR’s policy has created yet another layer of difficulty for him as a transgender person living in West Virginia. The ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥, the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ of West Virginia, and the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic filed a federal lawsuit asking a court to declare West Virginia’s birth certificate policies relating to transgender people unconstitutional on behalf of Hersom and an another anonymous plaintiff.
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West Virginia
May 2023

LGBTQ Rights
Hersom v. Crouch
Xavier Hersom applied for and was denied a gender marker change on his birth certificate. He said DHHR’s policy has created yet another layer of difficulty for him as a transgender person living in West Virginia. The ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥, the ³Ô¹ÏÖ±²¥ of West Virginia, and the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic filed a federal lawsuit asking a court to declare West Virginia’s birth certificate policies relating to transgender people unconstitutional on behalf of Hersom and an another anonymous plaintiff.

U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2023
LGBTQ Rights
+2 Issues
303 Creative, Inc. v. Elenis
This case concerns whether applying a public-accommodation law to compel a business that chooses to serve the public to provide wedding website design services without discriminating against a same-sex couple violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2023

LGBTQ Rights
+2 Issues
303 Creative, Inc. v. Elenis
This case concerns whether applying a public-accommodation law to compel a business that chooses to serve the public to provide wedding website design services without discriminating against a same-sex couple violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment.

Virginia
Feb 2023
LGBTQ Rights
+2 Issues
Vlaming v. West Point School District
In September of 2019, Peter Vlaming, a French teacher at West Point High School, refused to address a transgender boy in his class with he/him pronouns. Instead, the teacher avoided using pronouns when addressing the student, while continuing to use gendered pronouns when addressing everyone else. After several warnings, the school district told the teacher he needed to address the student with male pronouns (the same way he addressed other boys) or he would be fired. The teacher refused; the school district fired him, and Vlaming, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a suit in state court arguing that the school district violated his free speech and free exercise rights under the Virginia Constitution and Virginia’s RFRA.
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Virginia
Feb 2023

LGBTQ Rights
+2 Issues
Vlaming v. West Point School District
In September of 2019, Peter Vlaming, a French teacher at West Point High School, refused to address a transgender boy in his class with he/him pronouns. Instead, the teacher avoided using pronouns when addressing the student, while continuing to use gendered pronouns when addressing everyone else. After several warnings, the school district told the teacher he needed to address the student with male pronouns (the same way he addressed other boys) or he would be fired. The teacher refused; the school district fired him, and Vlaming, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a suit in state court arguing that the school district violated his free speech and free exercise rights under the Virginia Constitution and Virginia’s RFRA.