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Loading ...Gay marriage lawyers receive national honor
08.13.2008 8:30am EDT
(San Francisco, Calif.) Attorneys Shannon Minter and Therese Stewart have been named the recipients of the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association’s 2008 Dan Bradley Award.
Minter is the legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Stewart is San Francisco’s chief deputy city attorney. Both successfully fought to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Separately they also have been involved in a number of other key LGBT legal cases.“I am deeply honored to receive the Dan Bradley Award with Terry Stewart, who was a true partner in this case,” Minter said in a statement referring to the landmark California same-sex marriage case.
Minter has guided NCLR’s litigation and program work for over 10 years. He has been lead counsel in dozens of groundbreaking legal victories including the California marriage case and Sharon Smith’s unprecedented victory in her wrongful death lawsuit.
Smith’s partner, Diane Whipple, was attacked and killed by two dogs in her apartment building in 2001. The owners of the dogs were later convicted of criminal negligence and Smith filed a civil suit.
It became the first lawsuit in the country in which a same-sex partner was given survivor spousal standing in a wrongful death case.
In 2005, he was one of 18 people to receive the Ford Foundation’s “Leadership for a Changing World” award.
Minter also has received the Anderson Prize Foundation’s Creating Change Award by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Distinguished National Service Award from GAYLAW, the bar association for LGBT lawyers, Cornell Law School’s Exemplary Public Service Award, the Unity Award from Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the Advocacy Award from the San Francisco Bar Association, and the Justice Award from Equality California.
He has authored numerous articles and books on LGBT legal issues, including Transgender Rights (University of Minnesota Press, 2006) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Family Law (West Publishing, 2008).
He received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1993.
Stewart is a former president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, where she established a mentoring program for at-risk youths.
Stewart also is a lesbian activist who years ago campaigned for acceptance and equal treatment for gay and lesbian lawyers in top San Francisco firms. She is a graduate University of California Berkeley School of Law.
Each year, through its Dan Bradley Award, the NLGLA recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.
Minter and Stewart will be honored at the Lavender Law conference in San Francisco in September.
Massachusetts and California do not have Marriage Equality! Marriage Equality is having ALL of the rights of marriage, including the 1138 federal marriage rights, not a legal category labeled “marriage” which is devoid of those rights. Barak Obama supports granting “civil unions and other legally-recognized unions” (including domestic partnerships and marriage) the 1138 federal rights of marriage. Presently, that includes 10 states! That would be Marriage Equality! Who cares what it is called? The vast majority of the LGBT community is more interested in their rights than the title.
The backlash to our marriage-only strategy has brought us an entirely new body of anti-gay laws: the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and 45 states passing laws or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. 17 of those laws/constitutional amendments went further by also prohibiting civil unions and domestic partnerships. However, domestic partnerships and civil unions have never been successfully reversed on a direct challenge. The difference between California’s same-sex marriage and California’s comprehensive domestic partnerships is moot. When will our community start putting reality before rhetoric? True Marriage Equality can only be won in the US Congress, signed by the President. That is where we should be focusing our energies.
http://www.EqualityWithoutMarriage.org
Guy in SF said, “My appreciation of Shannon Minter’s work has also changed my opinion of transgender people. They deserve the same respect and rights as anyone else.”
Amen & hallelujah! All one has to do is speak to, hug, and look into the eyes of a transgendered person; how can their soul be “less than” mine or any other person’s soul? Any class of people can easily be demonized and hated when they are invisible. We ALL need to be OUT, OPEN, and UNASHAMED of ourselves and our families. It’s only CIVIL.
Good work, the two of you. I’m not married, but it’s nice to be able to have the option! Carry on.
Therese Stewart and Shannon Minter are very deserving of the award. Both presented outstanding oral arguments before the California Supreme Court in the marriage case. Both have earned my deepest respect.
My appreciation of Shannon Minter’s work has also changed my opinion of transgender people. They deserve the same respect and rights as anyone else. I now support ENDA to be all inclusive for all LGBT Americans.