Long-Time Litigator in Lesbian, Gay Civil Rights Leaves Lambda Legal Defense
Lambda Senior Staff Attorney Suzanne Goldberg to Join Faculty of Rutgers Law
School
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 22, 2000
Contact: Peg Byron 212-809-8585 x 230, 888-987-1984 (pager)
Suzanne
B. Goldberg 212-809-8585 x 214
NEW YORK — After nearly a decade of service, Suzanne B. Goldberg,
one of the nation’s most experienced litigators in lesbian and gay civil rights, is
departing the nation’s oldest and largest legal organization for lesbians, gay men
and people with HIV.
An attorney for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund since 1991, Goldberg has played
a pivotal role in the organization’s efforts to overturn sodomy laws, enforce fair
immigration rules, defend domestic partner programs, and secure workplace protections.
"It has been a great honor to work as a Lambda attorney. I feel privileged to have
represented many courageous lesbian, gay and HIV-positive clients and to have worked with
an unbelievably talented legal team and larger staff dedicated to eradicating
discrimination and insuring meaningful equality," Goldberg said.
"I leave inspired to continue the battle for social justice in my new
position," she said shortly before her last day on the job, June 29. Goldberg joins
the full-time faculty of Rutgers University Law School in Newark, N.J.
Most recently, Goldberg helped represent two gay men in their successful legal
challenge to the Texas ‘Homosexual Conduct’ Law. In early June, a Texas Appeals
Court ruled that the State’s sodomy law violates the equal rights protections of the
State Constitution and cleared the men of earlier convictions following their arrests in
the Houston home of one of the men.
Goldberg also played a notable role on the legal team that brought down the pernicious,
anti-gay Amendment 2 passed in Colorado in 1992. That case, Romer v. Evans, resulted in
the most profound civil rights victory for the lesbian and gay community to date,
prompting the United States Supreme Court to affirm equal protection guarantees for
lesbians and gay men. Goldberg wrote about that landmark case as co-author of the book
Strangers to the Law: Gay People on Trial.
Said Lambda Legal Director Beatrice Dohrn, "Suzanne will always be remembered for
her part in the heroic effort that brought down Amendment 2. Her years of work have made a
meaningful impact on the everyday lives of lesbians and gay men throughout the country as
well as on the area of civil rights law."
In her tenure, Goldberg also made significant legal inroads for lesbians and gay
immigrants. She provided invaluable advice, counsel and amicus brief support in asylum
cases on behalf of applicants from, among other countries, Russia, Iran, Honduras and
Brazil. Goldberg is a founder of the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force.
"Suzanne’s contribution to Lambda has been immeasurable," said Lambda
Deputy Legal Director Ruth E. Harlow, adding, "Our community is today far closer to
realizing full equality before the law thanks to the work Suzanne Goldberg has done as a
staff attorney at Lambda."
Goldberg joined Lambda as its first Skadden Fellow after graduating from Harvard Law
School in 1991. In September of last year, Goldberg and her partner celebrated the birth
of their second child.
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Link directly to Lambda’s news advisory: http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/pages/documents/record?record=648
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
National Headquarters
120 Wall Street, Suite 1500 New York, NY 10005-3904
Tel: 212-809-8585; Fax: 212-809-0055
lambdalegal@lambdalegal.org
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