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SUMMER 2018 Trans Victories in the Trump Era Protecting everyone against discrimination at work Religious Freedom ORWELLIAN LANGUAGE IS BACK IT’S A lifesaving victory: Life After PRIDE Prison Barbershop sued after turning down SEASON client with HIV SHOP OUR BRAND-NEW MERCHANDISE SHOP.LAMBDALEGAL.ORG equality for all: priceless® Mastercard is a proud sponsor of Lambda Legal and applauds their commitment to safeguard and advance the civil rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV. Mastercard and Priceless are registered trademarks, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. LAMBDA LEGAL IMPACT | Summer 2018 ©20128 Mastercard. All rights reserved. MCIH-17078_NYC_Pride_March_AdV1.indd 1 4/4/17 11:35 AM OVERPOWER THE BULLIES, WITH YOUR HELP generation from now, people look for opportunities to try our cases in front of juries and will ask why we didn’t do we will work with state attorneys general to protect LGBT more to fight back against people and everyone living with HIV. Trump and Pence. They are Of course, the irony is that right now we are winning Apacking the courts with judges who more cases than ever. More and more courts are holding we are distinguished primarily by their are right when we say that LGBT discrimination is a kind homophobia, transphobia and racism. of sex discrimination, and that both federal law and the Their reward is a permanent job Constitution protect us. We are winning cases for some of judging our lives. Neil Gorsuch is the most prominent, but the most vulnerable LGBTQ people in America—transgen- there are so many more. These are people who have crusaded der women in prison—and you can read on p.18 about how against LGBT equality, rigged voting systems against Black wonderfully one of our clients, Passion Star, is doing after people and rejected Brown v. Board of Education. her release. Lambda Legal is fighting back: the dossiers we prepare We need your help. Our opponents are many times our on these judges are Exhibit A at the Senate Judiciary size and they are determined to roll back marriage equality Committee. But their records do not disturb Republican and undermine nondiscrimination law. I am asking you to Senators and nearly every one has been approved on a party- make a bigger donation to Lambda Legal than you ever have line vote. Today, 1 in 10 judges on the Courts of Appeal — before. If you can join the Liberty Circle—$1500/year or right below the Supreme Court—are Trump/Pence picks. $125/month—please do. Please put Lambda Legal in your (Read more on p.8) As a result, Lambda Legal will change will or name us on your IRA. I promise we will be here fight- our strategy in the decade ahead. We will prepare to go to ing the bullies, many decades into the future. trial more often and will rely on more pro bono support from law firms. We will sue in state court where we can, RACHEL B. TIVEN as the federal courts become poisoned against us. We will CEO, LAMBDA LEGAL NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COUNCIL Chicago; James Owens, Los Angeles; Andrew Parlen, New York; CHAIR Jamie Pedersen, Seattle Michelle Peak, Grand Prairie, TX; Mike Ponto, Minneapolis; MEMBERS G. Ross Allen, San Francisco; Neil Bagadiong, Jason Pucci, Summit, NJ; Peter Reichertz, Washington, SUMMER 2018 | VOL. 35, NO. 2 Indianapolis; Debra R. Bernard, Chicago; Marcus Boggs, DC; Jennifer L. Rexford, Princeton, NJ; Laura Ricketts, Chicago; Daniel H. Bowers, New York; Susan Bozorgi, Chicago; Edward H. Sadtler, New York; P. Watson Seaman, Rachel B. Tiven, CEO Miami; Mark R. Braun, Chicago; Laura Brill, Los Angeles; Richmond, VA; Richard M. Segal, San Diego; Brad Seiling, Eric Brinker, New York; Jeff Brodin, Phoenix; William Los Angeles; Beverlee E. Silva, Atlanta; Norman C. Simon, LAMBDA LEGAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Candelaria, New York; Samuel R. Castic, Seattle; Martin New York; Paul Smith, Washington, DC; Michael D. Soileau, CHAIR Anne Krook*, Seattle S. Checov, San Francisco; Daniel C. Cochran, New York; Philadelphia; Charles M. Spiegel, San Francisco; Christopher VICE-CHAIRS David de Figueiredo*, Berkeley, CA Benson R. Cohen, New York; Paul H. Coluzzi, M.D., Laguna W. Stuart, San Francisco; Tony Timiraos, Ft. Lauderdale; John Strafstrom*, Bridgeport, CT Beach, CA; R. Sue Connolly, Chicago; MaryKay Czerwiec, George D. Tuttle, Sebastopol, CA; Lauren Verdich, Chicago; IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR Tracey Guyot-Wallace*, Chicago; Beth Davis, Atlanta; Bruce Deming, San Francisco; Roy Wesley, Chicago; Marcy Wilder, Washington, DC; Dallas David Draigh, Miami; Mitchell Draizin, New York; Melinda Peter S. Wilson, New York; Alan York, Houston; George TREASURER Rachel Goldberg, Stamford, CT Dunker, Chicago; Daniel S. Ebner, Chicago; Ruth Eisenberg, R. Zuber, Ft. Lauderdale; Mark Zumwalt, New York SECRETARY Vadim Schick*, Washington, DC Washington, DC; C. Douglas Ferguson, Chicago; William P. (Last updated May 15, 2018) MEMBERS Yemi Adegbonmire, Los Angeles; Sheri Bonstelle, Flanagan, Washington, DC; Michael Foncannon, Summit, Los Angeles; Annette Cerbone, New York; Wendy Chang, NJ; Kendall E. French, San Diego; Michael H. Gluck, IMPACT MAGAZINE STAFF Los Angeles; Roberta A. Conroy, Los Angeles; Trayton M. Skillman, NJ; Michael I. Gottfried, Los Angeles; Kathryn G. Angelo Ragaza, Director, Marketing and Editorial Davis, Montclair, NJ; Roderick Hawkins*, Chicago; Eric Graham, New York; Natasha F. Haase, Princeton, NJ; Joseph Alberto Galindo, Manager, Marketing and Editorial Johnson, Dallas; Laura Maechtlen*, San Francisco; Patrick S. Hall, New York; Laurie Hasencamp, Los Angeles; Donald Natalie Pryor, Consulting Designer Menasco, Washington, DC; Carol Meyer, Dallas; Andrew T. J. Hayden, Miami; Cynthia Homan, Chicago; Dennis Jesse Oxfeld, Consulting Editor Mitchell-Namdar, Stamford, CT; Danielle Piergallini, Dallas; Hranitzky, New York; F. Curt Kirschner, San Francisco; Kate Katrina Quicker, Atlanta; John R. Richards, Atlanta; Todd Kleba, Philadelphia; B. Birgit Koebke, San Diego; William Contributors: Mike Albo, Tim Murphy, Ese Olumhense, G. Sears, New York; Dan Slaughter, San Francisco; Holly M. Libit, Chicago; Lisa Linsky, Sleepy Hollow, NY; Charles Ishmam Rahman Thomas,Los Angeles; Lawrence Trachtenberg, Scottsdale, AZ; V. Loring, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Yery Marrero, Miami; Brian David Tsai, San Francisco; Michelle Waites*, Mount Vernon, T. May, Saugatuck, MI; Gregory S. McCurdy, San Francisco; NY; Kenneth Weissenberg, Bedford Corners, NY (*denotes John McGowan, Chicago; Beau Miller, Houston; Lauren For advertising, contact Allen Clutter, Executive Committee member) Mutti, Dallas; Thao Ngo, San Francisco; Robert W. Ollis, [email protected] lambdalegal.org 1 LAMBDA LEGAL NEWS SLAPPED BY THE PAST New discrimination brings up old wounds for someone whose life was derailed by harsh HIV criminalization laws ast fall, when Nikko Briteramos started getting went to get a haircut in his L.A. stressed. I’d L neighborhood of Leimert Park, he wanted to be a lot did not expect that he was about to get of big things in slapped in the face by his past. life, like a profes- sional ballplayer, In 2002, then a popular 19-year- "I want people old student on a basketball scholarship to understand and I felt like I at a small college in South Dakota, that this was was losing.” discrimination Briteramos became the first person and that you He was kicked charged under the state’s HIV criminal- can’t get HIV off the basket- from giving ization laws for “knowingly exposing a someone a ball team when female sex partner to HIV.” haircut,” says alcohol was found He had received his diagnosis shortly Lambda Legal in his room. He client Nikko prior to the sexual activity that brought Briteramos. started smoking about the charges, but he didn’t fully pot. Failing every believe it, he says, and also feared that class and short on if he insisted on a condom, which cash, he dropped they hadn’t used before, the woman out and moved would suspect something was up. (She to Las Vegas for a remained HIV-negative.) relationship that The case sparked sensational global prison for 18 months. petered out. headlines, particularly after South After serving that sentence, “There are so many collateral Dakota’s governor said that Briteramos Briteramos, on HIV meds, went consequences of HIV criminalization had committed the equivalent of back to Chicago, his hometown, laws that permanently stigmatize you shooting someone in the head. Initially enrolled at Chicago State University, in society and leave you with a crimi- charged with five counts of intentional played basketball there, and changed nal record,” says Stefan Johnson, who exposure and facing up to 75 years in his major to microbiology. With heads Lambda Legal’s Help Desk. “It prison, Briteramos ultimately got a successful treatment for HIV and an was very difficult for Nikko to restart 90-day sentence and a judge’s order to undetectable viral load, this means he his life.” Such laws, often passed in the stay in school. had little, if any, risk of transmission 1980s and 1990s, are being challenged Briteramos attempted to comply to sexual partners. in many states, by Lambda Legal with the order during a brief furlough But with his name all over the and others, with some—California, from jail intended for him to reenroll internet, he could not shake what had Colorado, Iowa—recently repealing in school. While attempting to reenroll, happened in South Dakota. Women them. Briteramos found out that he had lost would be attracted to his good looks, Nonetheless, Briteramos tried. In his basketball scholarship and could not he says, then find out about him and 2016, he moved to Los Angeles, where afford to stay in South Dakota or in shun him. In his Chicago dorm, his he has relatives, intent on starting a school. The news hit hard, and he did roommate, scared of getting the virus, career as a personal trainer.