LGBT Bar NY was one of the nation’s first bar associations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) legal community and remains one of the largest and most active organizations of its kind in the country, serving the New York metropolitan area.
Our Origins & Evolution
Our organization began as a social group. In May 1978, ten people met in Professor Art Leonard’s living room and formed the New York Law Group, meeting monthly for informal social gatherings. Art began publishing a newsletter, Law Group Notes, reporting on lesbian and gay community events and legal developments.
Our Organizational Evolution
The group grew and in 1984 incorporated as the Bar Association for Human Rights. In September 1991, the name was changed to the Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater New York.
While some in the community still know us by our historical shorthand LeGaL, we now go by LGBT Bar NY, formally the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York, to better reflect the diversity of our mission, our membership, and the communities we seek to serve.
The Foundation (Established 1994)
In 1994, our 501(c)(3) charitable foundation arm was formed with Erica Bell as its founding President (the LGBT Bar Association Foundation of Greater New York f/k/a the Lesbian and Gay Law Association Foundation of Greater New York. Through the Foundation, our organization supports vital community programs and public resources:
- Lesbian and Gay Law Notes The nation's most comprehensive monthly update of developments in LGBT civil rights law.
- Walk-in Legal Clinic A free weekly service every Tuesday at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan, along with walk-in clinics in Brooklyn and Long Island as well as a name change clinic for the transgender community.
- Dr. M.L. "Hank" Henry Judicial Internship Fund Providing a stipend for a summer internship each year for LGBT law students to promote representation in the judiciary.
- Career Development Running the metropolitan area’s only career fair dedicated to first-year LGBT law students.
Mission Statement
Our growing membership is committed to the following:
- Promoting the expertise and advancement of LGBT legal professionals;
- Educating the public on legal issues facing LGBT people;
- Fostering membership participation in pro bono activities in the LGBT community;
- Working with LGBT organizations, community groups, and other groups and individuals to gain equal rights for all people;
- Eliminating homophobia and transphobia in the justice system;
- Encouraging judicial and other governmental appointment of those who oppose discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity;
- Encouraging lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and people of transgendered experience to choose law as a career;
- Promoting solidarity among LGBT in the law.
From the Archives: Manhattan Lawyer coverage of the Bar Association for Human Rights annual gala, 1989.