Executive Summary

GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) was founded in 1978 in response to a Boston police sting operation that targeted and outed hundreds of gay men at the Boston Public Library at a time when being outed could mean the loss of your job and family. An out gay lawyer founded us to ensure that the LGBTQ+ community could speak in its own voice in the courts about issues that concerned our community and so that we could educate judges, lawyers, and the general public about our lives and our need for civil rights legal protections. Our staff and board have always been primarily members of the LGBTQ+ community working alongside allies.

For 45 years, GLAD has worked on breakthrough cases such as Bragdon v. Abbott, establishing that the Americans with Disabilities Act protects people with HIV and AIDS; Doe v. Clenchy, where Maine’s highest court ruled that denying a transgender girl the use of the girl’s restroom violated her rights; Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark civil rights case where GLAD attorney Mary Bonauto successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court that same-sex couples nationwide have the legal right to marry; Cote v. Walmart, the class action complaint charging the retailer with discriminating against employees who were married to same-sex spouses by denying their spouses health insurance benefits; and Doe v. Trump, a ban on transgender military service members. We continue to employ strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education to press for lasting social change.

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