FALL 2018 “You’re gay? ” Fighting back after a rescinded job offer Taxpayer funds can’t be used to discriminate ONE COUPLE’S FIGHT BEYOND K AVANAUGH Why all federal court seats are crucial THE FACES We N LGBT seniors: Lambda Legal and AARP OF NIKKO working together TAKING DOWN HIV STIGMA PAGE 8 One Nation. One Set of Laws for All. Sheppard Mullin is proud to support its LGBTQ professionals and salutes Lambda Legal’s efforts to secure equality for all. Beijing | Brussels | Century City | Chicago | Dallas | London | Los Angeles | New York | Orange County Palo Alto | San Diego (Downtown) | San Diego (Del Mar) | San Francisco | Seoul | Shanghai | Washington, D.C. www.sheppardmullin.com Stand Out. Be Proud. Sidley is honored to continue our support of Lambda Legal and applauds its tireless dedication to achieving equality for the LGBTQ community. Find out how we are standing up for equality at sidley.com/diversity Sally Olson Chief Diversity Officer One South Dearborn Chicago, IL 60603 Attorney Advertising - Sidley Austin LLP, One South Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60603. AMERICA • ASIA PACIFIC • EUROPE | +1 3122 853 7000.LAMBDA Prior results LEGAL do IMPACT not guarantee Summer a similar 2018 outcome. MN-8919 sidley.com THANK YOU FOR BELIEVING Dear Lambda Legal family, As we wish our outgoing CEO Rachel B. Tiven well on community to fight for the kind of country that we want her new endeavors, our eyes are focused on the future. The ours to be. threats we currently face are meant to strike fear in the hearts We approach this task with resolve but also with humil- of the LGBTQ community and everyone living with HIV. ity, as we know that we cannot succeed without the support Forces opposed to our equality unabashedly seek to drive us and assistance of all of you. As Lambda Legal writes this next back into the shadows. But we draw strength from the fact chapter of our history, we thank you for believing in this that we have lived through dark times before, and we have organization as much as we do. never given up. Remember, Lambda Legal had to fight for our very existence in 1973—and we have not stopped fight- ing for our community since. While the forces of bigotry and hatred that have been unleashed by this administration may feel unprecedented and horrifying, the challenges and obstacles we face now are not really all that new. The team here at Lambda Legal knows what to do. We will keep bringing cases to move the CHARLES FIELDS law forward. We will keep fighting harmful policies wherever Co-Interim CEO and Chief Operating Officer they are proposed and working with allies to advance the ball SHARON MCGOWAN wherever we can. We will lift up the beauty of our stories and Co-Interim CEO, Chief Strategy Officer and stand shoulder to shoulder with the broader civil rights Legal Director, Eden/Rushing Chair Los Angeles; Lawrence Trachtenberg, Scottsdale, AZ; David T. May, Saugatuck, MI; Gregory S. McCurdy, San Francisco; Tsai, San Francisco; Michelle Waites*, Mount Vernon, NY; John McGowan, Chicago; Beau Miller, Houston; Lauren Kenneth Weissenberg, Bedford Corners, NY (*denotes Mutti, Dallas; Thao Ngo, San Francisco; Robert W. Ollis, Executive Committee member) Chicago; James Owens, Los Angeles; Andrew Parlen, New York; Michelle Peak, Grand Prairie, TX; Mike Ponto, Minneapolis; FALL 2018 | VOL. 35, NO. 3 NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COUNCIL Jason Pucci, Summit, NJ; Peter Reichertz, Washington, CHAIR Jamie Pedersen, Seattle DC; Jennifer L. Rexford, Princeton, NJ; Laura Ricketts, Charles Fields, Co-Interim CEO and Chief MEMBERS G. Ross Allen, San Francisco; Neil Bagadiong, Chicago; Edward H. Sadtler, New York; P. Watson Seaman, Operating Officer Indianapolis; Debra R. Bernard, Chicago; Marcus Boggs, Richmond, VA; Richard M. Segal, San Diego; Brad Seiling, Sharon McGowan, Co-Interim CEO, Chief Strategy Chicago; Daniel H. Bowers, New York; Susan Bozorgi, Los Angeles; Beverlee E. Silva, Atlanta; Norman C. Simon, Officer and Legal Director, Eden/Rushing Chair Miami; Mark R. Braun, Chicago; Laura Brill, Los Angeles; New York; Paul Smith, Washington, DC; Michael D. Soileau, Eric Brinker, New York; Jeff Brodin, Phoenix; William Philadelphia; Charles M. Spiegel, San Francisco; Christopher LAMBDA LEGAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Candelaria, New York; Samuel R. Castic, Seattle; Martin W. Stuart, San Francisco; Tony Timiraos, Ft. Lauderdale; CHAIR Anne Krook*, Seattle S. Checov, San Francisco; Daniel C. Cochran, New York; George D. Tuttle, Sebastopol, CA; Lauren Verdich, Chicago; VICE-CHAIRS David de Figueiredo*, Berkeley, CA Benson R. Cohen, New York; Paul H. Coluzzi, M.D., Laguna Roy Wesley, Chicago; Marcy Wilder, Washington, DC; John Strafstrom*, Bridgeport, CT Beach, CA; R. Sue Connolly, Chicago; MaryKay Czerwiec, Peter S. Wilson, New York; Alan York, Houston; George IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR Tracey Guyot-Wallace*, Chicago; Beth Davis, Atlanta; Bruce Deming, San Francisco; R. Zuber, Ft. Lauderdale; Mark Zumwalt, New York Dallas David Draigh, Miami; Mitchell Draizin, New York; Melinda (Last updated September 21, 2018) TREASURER Rachel Goldberg, Stamford, CT Dunker, Chicago; Daniel S. Ebner, Chicago; Ruth Eisenberg, SECRETARY Vadim Schick*, Washington, DC Washington, DC; C. Douglas Ferguson, Chicago; William P. IMPACT MAGAZINE STAFF MEMBERS Yemi Adegbonmire, Los Angeles; Sheri Bonstelle, Flanagan, Washington, DC; Michael Foncannon, Summit, Angelo Ragaza, Director, Marketing and Editorial Los Angeles; Annette Cerbone, New York; Wendy Chang, NJ; Kendall E. French, San Diego; Michael H. Gluck, Alberto Galindo, Manager, Marketing and Editorial Los Angeles; Roberta A. Conroy, Los Angeles; Trayton M. Skillman, NJ; Michael I. Gottfried, Los Angeles; Kathryn G. Natalie Pryor, Consulting Designer Davis, Montclair, NJ; Roderick Hawkins*, Chicago; Jordan Graham, New York; Natasha F. Haase, Princeton, NJ; Joseph Jesse Oxfeld, Consulting Editor Heinz, Chicago; Eric Johnson, Dallas; Laura Maechtlen*, Hall, New York; Laurie Hasencamp, Los Angeles; Donald San Francisco; Patrick S. Menasco, Washington, DC; Carol J. Hayden, Miami; Cynthia Homan, Chicago; Dennis News by Tim Murphy Meyer, Dallas; Andrew T. Mitchell-Namdar, Stamford, CT; Hranitzky, New York; F. Curt Kirschner, San Francisco; Kate Donor profile by Ishmam Rahman Lauren Mutti, Dallas; Danielle Piergallini, Dallas; Katrina Kleba, Philadelphia; B. Birgit Koebke, San Diego; William Quicker, Atlanta; John R. Richards, Atlanta; Todd G. Sears, M. Libit, Chicago; Lisa Linsky, Sleepy Hollow, NY; Charles For advertising, contact Allen Clutter, New York; Dan Slaughter, San Francisco; Holly Thomas, V. Loring, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Yery Marrero, Miami; Brian [email protected] lambdalegal.org 1 NEWS FEATURE hese days, Mark Horton and his husband, Alton Greenough, are finding themselves forced to sell— even give away, because they’re expensive to keep—more Tand more of the beloved miniature horses that graze on their farm in Edwardsville, Illinois, just north of St. Louis. “They’re more like our children,” says Horton. But the couple is in rough times financially. It all goes back to an email Horton sent to his employer-to- be in 2016 casually outing himself as gay by mentioning Greenough. Before that fateful email, Horton, 62, was employed as vice president of sales for a home health and hospice company based in Pittsburgh. But he had to travel extensively for that job and wanted to be closer to home to care for both his mother, who was suffer- ing from pancreatic cancer (and has since died), and Greenough, who had sustained serious injuries in a riding accident. So when a headhunter contacted him to let him know that a local eldercare company, Midwest Geriatric Management (MGM), was looking for a new VP, Horton applied. Thus began Mark Horton lost a three-month process during which he says he met everyone at MGM a great job offer and ultimately was given a written job after he revealed offer by MGM CEO Judah Bienstock he was gay. NOTNOT With Lambda Legal’s help, he’s fighting back. HORSINGHORSING BY TIM MURPHY AROUNDAROUND 2 LAMBDA LEGAL IMPACT | Summer 2018 and his wife, Faye. Once Horton He suspects that’s because many accepted, Faye emailed, “Wonderful! employers consider him overqualified Congratulations! We are so excited!” for some of the positions and because Horton gave notice to his employer a simple Google search reveals the in Pittsburgh. All that was pending was lawsuit is still pending. confirmation of Horton’s educational “This was going to be a final career background, which Horton said would move for Mark that he was very excited take a few weeks because of adminis- about, but it all went south after he trative changes at one of his schools. Mark Horton and Alton Greenough casually mentioned his husband,” The Bienstocks did not indicate that with two of their many pets. says Lambda Legal counsel and this was a problem. In a casual email Employment Fairness Project Director conversation about the degree, Horton This was going to be a Greg Nevins, who is on Horton’s wrote, “My partner has been on me final career move for legal team. “The paper trail strongly about [my MBA] since he completed Mark that he was very excited suggests that this is discrimination, his Ph.D. a while back.” so Mark’s becomes yet another case Three days later, Faye Bienstock “about, but it all went south demonstrating the urgency of under- wrote to Horton. “Are you able to after he casually mentioned standing sex discrimination under Title come this afternoon?,” she asked. “We his husband.” VII to encompass sexual-orientation would like to discuss the status of your discrimination.” (Lambda has also employment.” Horton wrote that he —Greg Nevins, Lambda Legal counsel and successfully argued that Title VII Employment Fairness Project director was out of town that day but could covers gender identity as a form of sex come on a different date. Two days discrimination.) later, Bienstock wrote again: “Mark— Now Lambda Legal, which has Meanwhile, says Horton, staying I regret to inform you that due to the since joined the case, is appealing that home and taking care of his and incompletion of the background check dismissal to the U.S.