She was born and raised in New York City in 1940.

In the 1950s and ’60s, Nestle became involved in the African American Civil Rights movement. She marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama with prominent African American leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel.

After 1969’s riots in New York City’s Stonewall Inn,  Nestle dedicated herself more towards the by-then new Gay Rights Movement.

She helped found the Gay Academic Union in 1971. She also founded the Lesbian Herstory Archives with Deborah Edel in the early 1970s. The Archives are now the Lesbian community’s largest collection of important materials in the world.

Nestle is still an outspoken civil activist. She runs a popular blog and website.

In legal documents filed late Thursday, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal and the ACLU signaled a significant break with past legal tactics that avoided taking the fight to federal court.

Some gay rights activists have been concerned that a conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court could broadly rule against same-sex marriages.

The lesbian center, Lambda Legal and the ACLU now say they support the legal arguments of former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson and David Boies. The two prominent litigators filed the federal lawsuit in May alleging that California’s ban violates federal anti-discrimination protections.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and other national organizations issued a statement Wednesday saying they think the U.S. Supreme Court is not ready to issue a favorable ruling on the issue.

The statement came the day after Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, who represented opposing sides in the 2000 Bush v. Gore challenge, announced they had filed a federal court challenge to California’s gay marriage ban.

Olson and Boies said the suit was filed on behalf of two gay men and two gay women.

Olson said that he hopes the case will wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction against California’s Proposition 8 until the case is resolved.

Gay rights activists in California want to win marriage back for same-sex couples by going back to voters.

The state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to uphold the gay marriage ban.

During the 2006-2007 school year, Phi Ngo and Joseph O’Leary lived in family housing on the main campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa while O’Leary worked toward a degree in history.  

They reapplied for family housing for the 2007–2008 school year, but the University denied their request.

In a letter to the couple, the interim director of University Housing Services stated that the University “recognizes marital status as defined in Section 572-1 of the Hawaii’s Revised Statutes,” which restricts the term “marriage” to different-sex couples.

The letter went on to state that “[u]ntil such time that the state revises its definition of marital status, we will continue to apply the existing definition to our assignment policy for married housing.”

Ngo and O’Leary filed suit in March with the help of Lambda Legal. 

Lambda in its lawsuit noted that the university had denied Ngo and O’Leary housing merely because they were not a married couple.  However, the Supreme Court of Hawaii already has held that the denial of any of the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples constitutes discrimination in violation of the Hawaii Constitution.

The suit said that the couple had incurred unnecessary expenses as a result of the university’s action.

The couple was forced to lease a more expensive off-campus apartment.  It was not within walking distance to campus, so O’Leary was “forced to incur significant transit expenses to get to and from his classes.”  He also had to forgo use of the subsidized student meal plan. The additional expenses amounted to several thousand dollars per year.

In a statement, Lambda said that the lawsuit has now been settled to the mutual satisfaction of the parties, but did not provide details.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the university said it would create accommodation for gay and lesbian pairs. The settlement of the lawsuit involved only the monetary issues incurred as a result of the denial of housing.

Joey Ramelli and Megan Donovan were forced to drop out of high school and complete their education at home after being harassed by their classmates during their sophomore and junior years. The students taunted them with antigay slurs. Ramelli was assaulted, his car vandalized.

Lambda Legal recently defended the jury decision in their favor in a California court.

K.K. Logan attended high school in Indiana, where his classmates and teachers supported him when he wore clothes typically associated with girls his age.

But when Logan attended the prom wearing a dress, the principal blocked him at the door. Lambda Legal has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Logan arguing that the school violated his First Amendment rights. It’s heartening to know that many of his classmates and neighbors were on his side.

And recently at a Florida high school, 17-year-old Brittany Martin and other students who formed a gay-straight alliance (GSA) were told they didn’t have the right to meet on school grounds, a right that other student organizations were given. The ACLU took the case to federal court and won on both Equal Access Act and First Amendment grounds.

Lambda Legal has had similar victories.

When a group of students in a Salt Lake City high school were told they couldn’t form a GSA, we stepped in as lead counsel for a coalition of groups that filed suit against the school district for violating the Equal Access Act. And in California, we fought and won a case on behalf of Anthony Colín and others, after the Orange Unified School District Board denied the students permission to meet. These victories and others like them support students and allies who are working together to make schools safer places where all students have the chance to pursue an equal education — and be themselves.

But even where state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are on the books, the fight is not over. Lambda Legal filed a ‘friend of the court’ brief to protect a state law in California that is threatened by a lawsuit brought by antigay organizations Advocates for Faith and Freedom and the Alliance Defense Fund, which seek to block their enforcement.

And in New York, we spoke up when two different school districts argued that the state Human Rights Law that prohibits discrimination does not apply to them. One district has already dropped its challenge in response to our letter.

School is the place where young people learn history and geometry — and how to be in the world.

They also learn how the world around them works, and they don’t miss much: they see when teachers, parents, administrators and elected officials stand up for fairness — and when they don’t.

Back-to-school blues should be about the small stuff — not about the fear of violence or discrimination, whether on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, race or any other factor. We will soon issue an enhanced version of one of Lambda Legal’s most popular educational booklets, and we’re especially proud of the title: every child should be able to return to school and be Out, Safe and Respected.