Fabulosity, Gay, Parties, Public Interest

Much To Celebrate At LeGaL's 2016 Annual Dinner

Thanks to LeGal for a lovely evening. See everyone again next year!

By  
on
The LeGaL annual dinner took place last night at Capitale here in New York.

The LeGaL annual dinner took place last night at Capitale here in New York.

Last year, at the 2015 annual dinner of LeGaL, also known as the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York, everyone was wondering the same thing: what would the U.S. Supreme Court do regarding marriage equality? There was definitely a lot of optimism in the audience — fueled in part by the inspiring presence of April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, petitioners in one of the marriage cases then pending before SCOTUS — but also some anxiety.

This year, at LeGaL’s 2016 Annual Dinner & Community Vision Awards, the mood was one of elation — thanks to Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruling that made marriage equality the law of the land.

Professor Meredith Miller, current president of LeGaL, began her opening remarks by acknowledging the Obergefell victory: “What a historic year!” She recalled how news of the win moved her to tears.

One of the lawyers who helped bring about that victory — Paul Weiss partner (and 2013 Lawyer of the Year) Roberta Kaplan, who successfully litigated the Windsor case that laid the groundwork for Obergefell — took the stage to deliver a powerful tribute to her former boss, Judge Judith S. Kaye, who passed away in January. As Kaplan noted, Judge Kaye — the Chief Judge of the State of New York from 1993 to 2008, and the first woman to hold the post — issued groundbreaking opinions and cast major votes in support of LGBT rights (as noted in LeGaL’s tribute to Judge Kaye). Kaplan focused her remarks on In the Matter of Jacob, the landmark second-parent adoption case decided by Chief Judge Kaye during Kaplan’s clerkship. (You can learn the fascinating backstory behind the case in chapter 2 of Kaplan’s superb book, Then Comes Marriage (affiliate link).)

Robbie Kaplan, who clerked for Judge Kaye for a year and a half and remained close with her for more than 20 years, provided a sense of the judge as a person as well. She reminisced about how Judge Kaye gave her unsolicited fashion advice (“you wear too much black!”) when they’d stop at the Woodbury Common outlet stores driving to or from Albany, and she recalled how the judge — before she knew Kaplan was gay — tried to set her up with a man in the mayor’s office (who, funnily enough, later turned out to be gay too). Kaplan concluded her tribute to Judge Kaye with one of the honorifics for the dead in Judaism: “may her memory be a blessing.”

The first 2016 Community Vision Award went to Chai Feldblum, the Georgetown law professor who now serves as a commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Feldblum, radiating an infectious energy that reminded me a bit of actress Jackie Hoffman, told the assembled crowd that “if you’re in this room, you are part of a larger social struggle for equality.” And for that struggle to succeed, Feldblum explained, three things are essential: correct social norms, just laws, and proper practices on the ground. You can’t have just one; having good laws on the books, for example, is insufficient if those laws aren’t supported by societal norms and practice.

Sponsored

The second 2016 Community Vision Award went to Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal since 1992. In his acceptance speech, he gave a lovely shout-out to his alma mater, Northeastern Law (subject of the latest installment in our law school decision series). Speaking of himself, Mary Bonauto, and other Northeastern alums working in the public interest, “We went to law school to make the world a better place for LGBT people, and we are doing it.”

Note Cathcart’s careful phrasing: “we are doing it,” not “we did it.” He pointed out that, despite the victories of recent years, the struggle for LGBT equality continues (as reflected in, for example, recent unfortunate events in North Carolina). “Some people ask me why I’m never satisfied,” Cathcart said. “It is my job, not just my personality, to never be satisfied.”

After Cathcart’s speech, LeGaL executive director Matthew Skinner concluded the formal program by thanking everyone for attending and supporting the organization. But bar association dinners like LeGaL’s are, of course, about socializing and networking just as much as they are about official remarks.

It was a pleasure to see many old friends at Capitale last night. During the cocktail hour, I got to chat with Robbie Kaplan, Glenn Magpantay of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (whose own great awards dinner I had the pleasure of attending), and McDermott Will partner Lisa Linsky (a star presenter from last year’s dinner).

During the dinner itself, I had the privilege and pleasure of sitting between two Southern District of New York judges: Judge J. Paul Oetken, who I was honored to have as the officiant of my wedding last year, and Judge Alison Nathan, who I was honored to share a stage with recently. I also got to catch up with Evan Wolfson, the Freedom to Marry founder who’s now sharing the lessons learned from that successful struggle with other organizations committed to social justice, and Gregory Antollino, who’s working on a Second Circuit case concerning Title VII’s applicability to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (For more on Zarda v. Altitude Express, see the amicus briefs of Lambda Legal and the New York Civil Liberties Union.)

Sponsored

My thanks to LeGaL for a lovely evening and to my former firm, Wachtell Lipton, for hosting me at its table (graciously presided over by partner David Lam). I look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

(Flip to the next page for a few photos from the evening.)

1 2Next »

Topics

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,