Lambda Legal, the oldest nonprofit legal organization dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ people's rights and the rights of those living with HIV, will release its first-ever coffee table book titled Making the Case for Equality: 50 Years of Legal Milestones in LGBTQ+ History on October 29, 2024.
The book is authored by Lambda Legal's senior attorney Jennifer C. Pizeer and political scientist Ellen An Andersen of the University of Vermont. Making the Case for Equality "opens Lambda Legal’s archives to present a richly illustrated commemorative book celebrating 50 years of trailblazing advocacy," an announcement for the book states.
“This book is a testament to the relentless pursuit of equality and justice for all people, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. It serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come, that the work is far from over, and that we know how to prevail despite challenging times,” said Jennifer C. Pizer, Lambda Legal’s chief legal officer.
Making the Case for Equality covers a variety of landmark cases that have affected the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the U.S., including rights related to education, employment, marriage, healthcare, housing, and military service.
Examples of the court cases examined in the book include:
- Nabozny v. Podlesny (1996): The breakthrough victory that school officials must protect students from persistent anti-LGBTQ+ bullying rather than assuming “boys will be boys.”
- Lawrence v. Texas (2003): Decriminalized private consensual same-sex intimacy nationwide, overturning state sodomy laws and paving the way for LGBTQ+ civil rights progress.
- Taylor v. Rice (2008): Forced the U.S. Foreign Service to stop discriminating irrationally against job applicants living with HIV.
- Glenn v. Brumby (2011): Established that discrimination based on gender identity violates the federal employment nondiscrimination law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
- Obergefell v. Hodges (2015): Legalized same-sex marriage across the U.S., affirming that LGBTQ+ couples have the constitutional right to marry.
The book includes commentary from the very strategists and plaintiffs behind these legal battles and wins. Also included are rare archival materials, photographs, and newspaper clippings that show the history of Lambda Legal’s mission to transform the law and protect LGBTQ+ lives.
“The efforts of Lambda Legal are needed now, more than ever, to help us hold that line,” queer author Roxane Gay writes in the book's foreword.
Making the Case for Equality will be available at major booksellers and online bookstores on October 29.
