On July 7, 2015, the QLaw Foundation sponsored an event to discuss the marriage case and what the next steps in LGBTQ equality fight. The Seattle Channel filmed the event and it is available here.

The event started with the attorneys from Lambda Legal, Legal Voice, QLaw Foundation and ACLU. There were optimistic views about the decision and the power for the community going forward. They discussed the power and poetry in Kennedy's majority opinion which recognized the history of struggle for existence in the LGBTQ community broadly, and in the lives of a few of the petitioners in the case. There was also discussion about the dissent and the negative consequences of the dissent and the roadmap they have provided for anti-LGBTQ and anti-marriage advocates in the fight moving forward. 

The second half of the event brought together leading LGBTQ organizations and they talked about goals moving forward. Common themes were the importance of fully including the trans* community in the fight for equality, making sure that we fully include the issues of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters of color in our movement as they often bear the burden of most of the experiences of inequality disproportionately. There was also discussion of understanding that there is often a disconnect between the legal reality and the lived reality. HIV/AIDS continues to be an LGBTQ issues and there are new issues around a lack of federal money for prevention and health care, especially in rural communities.  

Program

 

6:30 – 6:45  

Welcome by Anne Levinson. 

 

6:45 – 7:10

Attorneys discuss SCOTUS ruling

·          ACLU - Hank Balson

·          Lambda Legal - Tara Borelli

·          Legal Voice – David Ward

·          QLaw Foundation - Jill Mullins-Cannon

 

7:10 – 7:30

Q&A from audience on SCOTUS ruling

 

7:30 – 8:00

Community leaders discuss ongoing work to achieve full LGBTQ equality:

·          ACLU – Jenni Wong

·          Allyship – Regent Brown 

·          ERW – Monisha Harrell

·          Gender Justice League – Danni Askini

·          GSBA – Louise Chernin

·          Ingersoll Gender Justice – Marsha Botzer

·          Lambda Legal – Tara Borelli

·          Legal Voice – David Ward

·          Pride Foundation – Kris Hermanns

 

8:00 – 8:30 

Q&A from audience