Feel Good Friday - Lambda Legal

June is Pride Month, and today I'm highlighting Lambda Legal, an organization that has spent more than five decades in courtrooms across the country fighting for LGBTQ+ civil rights.

Founded in 1973 and headquartered in New York City, the mission of Lambda Legal is "to achieve the full recognition of the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people and all persons living with HIV through impact litigation, public education, and policy work." 

It's easy to forget how recently these rights had to be fought for at all. When founder Bill Thom filed the organization's incorporation paperwork in 1972, a panel of New York judges rejected it. In their view, the mission was 'neither benevolent nor charitable.' Thom appealed their decision, and won.

Lambda Legal has been fighting on three interconnected fronts ever since: pursuing high-impact cases in court, equipping people to understand and exercise their rights through public education, and advocating for stronger legal protections at the local, state, and federal level. Clients pay nothing for Lambda Legal's representation.

Right now, that work has never been more urgent. Since January 2025, Lambda Legal has filed six major cases challenging executive orders targeting transgender people, gender-affirming care, accurate identity documents, and military service for trans people. In 2025 alone, they had active cases in 24 states. One of their recent wins is a court injunction that restored $6.2 million in federal funding to LGBTQ+ and HIV organizations after the Trump administration moved to cut it. You can track their ongoing federal cases with their Trump Tracker.

Lambda Legal also maintains a national Help Desk for people experiencing discrimination, and a network of volunteer Cooperating Attorneys that extends their reach far beyond their staff team. With more than 50 years of landmark wins behind them and some of the most consequential cases of our time ahead, they are exactly the organization this moment calls for.

If you’d like to support Lambda Legal you can do so by making a donation, becoming a volunteer, and amplifying their message on social media. Follow Lambda Legal on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and share their stories of resilience and resistance with your network.

Happy Pride Month!

Feel Good Friday - Innocence Project

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, a day that invites reflection on the ongoing fight for racial justice in America. The Innocence Project  is doing that work every single day.

Founded in 1992 and headquartered in New York, the mission of the Innocence Project  is "to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone."

Attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld started the organization as a law clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law after recognizing that if DNA technology could prove guilt, it could also prove innocence. It became an independent nonprofit in 2003 and has been at the forefront of criminal justice reform ever since.

The racial disparities in wrongful conviction cases are staggering. Nearly 70% of Innocence Project clients are people of color. Black innocent defendants spend 45% more time wrongfully imprisoned before exoneration than white defendants. Cases involving Black exonerees are 50% more likely to involve police misconduct, and intentionally suggestive witness identifications occur twice as frequently in cases involving Black and Latinx exonerees. These are not anomalies — they are patterns rooted in systemic bias.

The Innocence Project fights this injustice on multiple fronts. Their legal team takes on cases where DNA or other scientific evidence can establish innocence. Their policy work has led to the passage of more than 250 state and federal laws addressing issues like eyewitness identification reform, preservation of biological evidence, and compensation for exonerees. They also push to strengthen forensic science standards and limit the use of unreliable technologies like facial recognition in law enforcement. Since their founding, they have helped free or exonerate more than 250 people who collectively spent over 4,000 years behind bars for crimes they did not commit.

If you’d like to support the Innocence Project, there are many ways to do so. Volunteer your time, make a donation, and amplify their message on social media. Follow the Innocence Project on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and share their stories of justice and freedom with your network.

Feel Good Friday - Transgender Law Center

As Pride Month comes to a close this year, we’re wrapping it up with a spotlight on Transgender Law Center.

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in California, Transgender Law Center (TLC) is “the largest national trans-led organization advocating for self-determination for all people.” The work they do “changes law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression.” Watch this 5-minute overview video, We Win Together, to hear from participants, or keep reading to learn more.

Guided by the Trans Agenda for Liberation, the legal work done by TLC focuses on several areas. The Impact Litigation team uses lawsuits and advocacy to fight the criminalization of trans lives, the Legal Services Project shares legal information and resources to equip trans people to assert their rights, and Border Butterflies provide legal and humanitarian support to LGBTQ+ asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border

Additional programs include: Black Trans Circles, healing justice spaces for Black trans women in the South and Midwest; Positively Trans, a group that addresses inequities, stigma and discrimination of those living with HIV; the Gender Justice Leadership Project, a youth leadership and storytelling program; and the Disability Project, a program that magnifies the leadership, collective power and visibility of trans and queer disabled communities.

In addition to all the programming, TLC runs a Legal Information Helpdesk, which provides basic information “across many areas, including employment, health care, housing, civil rights, immigration, prisoners’ rights, and identity document changes.” The website also has resources grouped by issue area such as health, housing or employment.

The most recent annual report shows the impact this work is having. In 2021, TLC responded to more than 1200 Helpdesk requests, provided over 98,000 website visitors with legal resources, litigated 9 impact cases, filed 19 amicus briefs and trained 495 transgender actives and allies.

If you’d like to help TLC increase their impact this year, there are many ways to do so. Attorneys can volunteer as part of the Attorney Solidarity Network to provide legal advice or representation to trans people in their area. The rest of us can make a donation and spread the word on social media. Follow Transgender Law Center on Facebook, on Twitter @TransLawCenter and on Instagram @translawcenter.

Feel Good Friday - Native American Rights Fund

In another Feel Good Friday celebrating National American Indian Heritage Month, we profile the work of the Native American Rights Fund. 

Founded in 1970, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is “the oldest and largest nonprofit legal organization asserting and defending the rights of Indian tribes, organizations, and individuals nationwide.” They do this through litigation, legal advocacy and expertise.

NARF’s legal resources are concentrated in the following five areas:

• Preserve tribal existence – helping tribes gain federal recognition of their tribal status and representing them in their exercises of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction.
• Protect tribal natural resources – including land, water and timber rights; hunting, fishing and gathering rights; environmental protection; and prudent development of mineral resources.
• Promote Native American human rights – NARF concentrates on enforcing laws regarding rights to equal protection and to be free from discrimination in voting, education, incarceration, and religion. They also create laws to protect Native traditions, culture and property.
• Holds governments accountable to Native Americans – for the broad range of laws that protect tribal sovereignty and Native rights.
• Develop Indian law and educate the public about Indian rights, laws, and issues – laws focus on tribal sovereignty, tribal land and natural resources, human rights, and the accountability of governments to Native people. Education on Indian law is provided through consultations, training and distribution of information.

Current efforts include protecting Native voting rights, creating space for communities to heal from boarding school policies that removed children from their homes and placed them in government run boarding schools from the mid 1800’s to 1950’s, and fighting for fair districting in Indian country.

To get involved with any of these efforts, click the links above. You can also support the Native American Rights Fund with a donation and by amplifying their message on social media. Like their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @NDNrights and Instagram @nativeamericanrightsfund.