She is a board member for the Equal Justice Society and the executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

NCLR is an organization that advocates civil rights for the LGBT community through public policy and public education.

Kendall received her law degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1988.

She began practicing corporate law but diverted to civil rights advocacy.

Kate and her partner live in San Franciso, CA.

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.

“We just couldn’t believe this was happening to us. This was the nightmare that we hoped we’d never have to live through,” said Teresa Rowe, who grew up in Clovis, California, but now lives in the Bay Area with her partner of four years, Kristin Orbin.

“Unfortunately, because Kristin suffers from epilepsy, trips to the hospital are pretty common for us, which is why we filled out the legal paper work to make sure I would be able to be with her and make
emergency decisions about her care. But the hospital wouldn’t let me see Kristen and ignored my advice about her treatment. They ended up giving her the exact medication I repeatedly asked them not to give her.”

On May 29, 2009, Rowe and Orbin attended the “Meet in the Middle” rally in support of marriage for same-sex couples in Fresno. After the couple completed a 14-mile march in 90 degree heat, Orbin collapsed in a seizure. The couple experienced hostility from the ambulance driver, but Rowe was ultimately allowed to accompany Orbin to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. However, when the couple got the hospital, the driver would not allow Rowe to accompany Orbin into the emergency room even though Orbin had been in and out of consciousness, and Rowe was familiar with her medical history and care.

Rowe repeatedly asked hospital employees to allow her to see Orbin and talk to a physician about her care but was refused. She volunteered to have Orbin’s legal paperwork naming Rowe as her health care agent faxed to the hospital but was told that it wouldn’t do any good.

When she asked that she at least be allowed to pass along the message that Orbin not be given the
drug Ativan, she was told the message would be conveyed. If the message was given to those treating Orbin, it was ignored because Orbin was given the drug, which she didn’t need and which causes her unnecessary pain.

Meanwhile, when she was awake, Orbin was also asking to be allowed to see Rowe. Although they were both told that no visitors were allowed in the area where Orbin was being treated, other patients were receiving guests. After being separated for several hours, Orbin finally saw her doctor. She
complained to him, and Rowe was eventually allowed to be with her.

“Until the California Supreme Court upheld Prop 8, Kristen and Teresa were planning to get married. In this climate, hospitals must be especially diligent to protect same-sex couples from discrimination,” said Elizabeth Gill, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. “As these events so painfully demonstrate, no matter what hoops same-sex couples jump through to
protect their relationships, these kinds of horrible things will continue to happen as long as couples are denied the recognition and respect that only comes with marriage.”

The letter sent by the ACLU and NCLR charges that it was a violation of state law for the hospital to discriminate against the couple based on their sexual orientation, as well as to refuse to recognize Rowe’s legal authority, which was authorized by Orbin’s advance health care directive.

The letter also notes that hospitals must post and follow a patient’s bill of rights that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation and grants patients the ability to designate visitors of their choosing and to decide who is able to make emergency decision about their care. The letter urges Community Medical Centers immediately to affirm their commitment to inclusive and sensitive medical care for LGBT patients, and to take a number of steps to carry out that commitment.

“Discrimination in healthcare settings is still far too common for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people,” said Jason Schneider, MD, President of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA). “No one is served when partners are barred from visitation and kept from participating in conversations about their loved one’s care. It’s bad for doctors who are kept
from potentially life threatening information, it’s bad for partners who are left waiting hopelessly in the waiting rooms and it’s especially traumatic for patients who need the love and support that only their partners can provide to help them through health care emergencies.”

The hospital has until June 22 to respond.

Hundreds of people on both sides of the gay marriage issue were gathered outside the court as the justices released their ruling upholding Prop 8, but allowing those gay marriages before the November election to remain valid.

“We All Deserve The Freedom To Marry,” read placards carried by many in the crowd.  Opponents of marriage equality also carried signs.  One man held a sign reading “Gay = Pervert.”

Speaking from her ailing mother’s bedside, Karen Strauss, lead petitioner in the case against Prop 8, said, “My heart, already on the verge of breaking, has just been dealt an irreparable blow. I was so hoping the court would find its way to a decision that continues, rather than repeals, our equality under the law and that would allow our family to celebrate the love Ruth and I have shared for nearly 18 years.”

“My mother’s poor health — a major impediment to Ruth’s and my wedding plans last year — has taken the turn our family has been dreading; she is now under hospice care. The opportunity for her to witness my marriage has gone forever,” said Strauss.

“Today, the California Supreme Court diminished its legacy as a champion of equality,” said Kate Kendell,  Executive Director National Center for Lesbian Rights in a statement.

NCLR was one of the organizations arguing before the court for the overturn of the ban.

“By upholding Prop 8, an initiative that stripped the right to marry from same-sex couples in California, the Court’s decision has undermined the central principle that all people are entitled to equal rights and has jeopardized every minority group in California. No minority group should have to defend its right to equality at the ballot, and the Court should not have permitted such a travesty of justice to stand,” Kendell said.

The Washington DC-based Human Rights Campaign vowed the fight is not over.

“Today’s ruling is a huge blow to Americans everywhere who care about equality.  The court has allowed a bare majority of voters to write same-sex couples out of basic constitutional protections,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.  “This ruling is painful, but it represents a temporary setback.  There will be a groundswell to restore marriage equality in our nation’s largest state, and HRC will not give up until marriage equality is restored in California.”

“While we are relieved that the 18,000 couples who married before the Prop 8 vote will still have valid marriages, it does not in any way remove the sting of this ruling,” added Solmonese.

Equality California, the state’s largest LGBT rights group already has begun work to win marriage back at the ballot box.

“We do not underestimate the challenge of implementing a strong ballot campaign.  Introducing ballot language is simple; winning an affirmative referendum on the freedom to marry will be difficult and expensive. But we have confidence that we can and will prevail,” said Marc Solomon, EQCA’s Marriage Director.

The California Secretary of State has given the group Yes on Equality until Aug. 17 to collect the nearly 700,000 signatures needed to qualify its initiative for the 2010 ballot. It would ask voters to repeal Prop 8. The other, by two college students, would strike the word “marriage” from all state laws.

Police throughout California were on alert as gay activists planned rallies for Tuesday night in dozens of cities.

Demonstrations also are planned in a number of other cities across the country, including New York City.

Protestors will march from Sheridan Square to Union Square for a rally in support of same-sex marriage.

The New York State Assembly has passed marriage equality legislation supported by the governor.  The bill has stalled in the Senate.

“I believe that New York is getting ready to join its neighbors here in the Northeast. We are on the verge of passing legislation that would finally give same-sex couples in New York the 1,324 rights and protections that come with a state marriage license,” said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of Empire State Pride Agenda, in a statement:

” Our State Assembly and our governor have already made it clear that no family in New York should be denied the vital legal security of a civil marriage license — and that L.G.B.T. New Yorkers should never be treated like second-class citizens.”

“Let’s stand with our neighbors and be proud. I believe senators from both sides of the aisle want to do this so history can say they did the right thing at the right moment. Let’s get this done now,” Can Capelle added.

The groups behind Prop 8 are planning their own demonstrations – in celebration of the ruling – and are vowing to fight any attempt to overturn it.

“People of faith have stood strong in this battle for marriage, and we intend to stand together moving forward, regardless of the threats that may come our way,” said Jim Franklin, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Fresno, and the chair of the ProtectMarriage the group behind Prop 8.  “Opponents of traditional marriage have been exposed for their intolerance of a person’s rights of conscience and religious expression. We are devoted to informing and educating Californians on marriage’s ultimate value to a society, for the benefit of children and the next generation.”

Churches that supported Prop 8 are planning celebrations on Sunday, May 31.

With its groundbreaking marriage decision a year ago, the California Supreme Court set us on a path that — despite some setbacks — has led to one marriage victory a week in the past month: A first-ever unanimous state supreme court ruling in Iowa; a huge victory in Vermont, where there was strong enough support for marriage equality to override their Governor’s veto; and tremendous movement in the legislatures of New Hampshire and Maine, with similar progress likely in the months ahead in New York and New Jersey.

The result has been a profound sea change in public opinion, including my own view of what the next month will bring here in California.

Just this week, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed “a sharp shift in public opinion on same-sex marriage. Forty-nine percent said it should be legal for gay people to marry” — an 11 point shift from a similar poll conducted by the Post just three years ago.

I have always believed the California Supreme Court should strike down Prop

8 because the law is so overwhelmingly on our side. But I feared that other factors might result in an adverse decision. That fear has now been replaced by hope as courts and legislatures — as well as public opinion — have moved sharply in our direction. The Court can cement its legacy by overturning Prop 8 and upholding our Constitution’s promise of equal protection.

Or it can cause untold pain and hardship to our community and forever undermine the independence of the judiciary and the historic role of the courts in protecting minority rights.

I believe the Court will do the right thing.

Kate Kendell is executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

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.