Lambda Legal history

Nathalie Rockhill, a major figure in the early post-Stonewall days of Gay Liberation, was the first woman elected to the board in 1974.

In 1977, when the ACLU decided not to appeal the case of Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, which challenged the military's ban on homosexuals, Lambda's general counsel, E. Carrington Boggan, agreed to handle the case himself, provided Matlovich could forward the necessary costs of litigation.

In 1980 a new national board of directors was elected, with an emphasis on geographical diversity.

987 (1981) (holding that state criminalization of consensual private sodomy violated federal constitution).

Lambda's first appearance before the United States Supreme Court occurred on 18 January 1983 in New York v.

246 (1984) (writ of certiorari dismissed in sodomy statute challenge because of "uncertainty regarding precise federal question decided" by new york appellate court).

After Sweeney announced his resignation in 1985, Tom Stoddard was selected as executive director.

In 1986, in a ruling laced with antigay language, the Court upheld Georgia’s sodomy law in Bowers v.

In 1992 Kevin Cathcart became the new executive director of Lambda, following Tom Stoddard.

Mayor Ed Koch, who signed the bill enacting it into law said: "The legislation drafted by Tom Stoddard was perfect." In 1993, Stoddard and other national gay leaders met with president Bill Clinton, the first such delegation to meet inside the Oval Office.

In 1996, Lambda Legal and co-counsel ACLU and the Colorado Legal Initiatives Project won a United States Supreme Court victory in Romer v.

1109 (2000) (recognizing first amendment right of boy scouts to exclude gay scout members).

In 2013, Lambda Legal – Midwest Regional Office was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.