Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously instilled optimism with his proclamation that, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” He was speaking in relation to the long struggle for racial equity, but the words are also applicable to the advancement of civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Kevin Jennings, the CEO of Lambda Legal, one of the nation’s leading advocacy groups for the LGBTQ community. We look at some of the key legal battles unfolding in courtrooms around the country, discuss the political ramifications of social wedge issues, and examine the efficacy of hate crime legislation.

Narrator  0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I’m Alex Wise.

Kevin Jennings  0:18  They picked a convenient scapegoat that they can paint any way they want. Because most people don’t have tremendous knowledge about trans people, most non trans people, I should say, cisgender people, and they’re taking advantage of the fact that there hasn’t been the kind of education that needs to happen in our country around that issue to demonize and terrified people, even if it is based in myth, like the idea that somehow trans people are running around in bathrooms, assaulting people, which there’s no criminal evidence of any kind to support.

Narrator  0:49  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Famously instilled optimism with this proclamation that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. He was speaking in relation to the long struggle for racial equity. But the words are also applicable to the advancement of civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Kevin Jennings, the CEO of Lambda Legal, one of the nation’s leading advocacy groups for the LGBTQ community. We look at some of the key legal battles unfolding in courtrooms around the country, discuss the political ramifications of social wedge issues, and examine the efficacy of hate crime legislation.

Alex Wise  1:41  I’m joined now on Sea Change Radio by Kevin Jennings. He’s the CEO of Lambda Legal. Kevin, welcome to Sea Change Radio.

Kevin Jennings 1:49  It’s nice to be here with you, Alex. Thanks for having me on.

Alex Wise  1:52  So Lambda Legal is one of the foremost organizations of its kind to protect LGBTQ rights. Why don’t you tell us a brief history of the organization and what the mission of your organization is?

Kevin Jennings 2:08  Sure, Lambda Legal is actually America’s oldest LGBT rights organization. We were founded in 1973. And we work to achieve full legal and lived equality for all LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV. We do this through three means what we’re most famous for is our impact litigation, where we bring lawsuits to make new law to protect the rights of LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV. We have been doing this for almost 50 years. And one of the things that I think most listeners might be interested to learn is that most of the major advances for LGBTQ rights that have happened over the last 50 years have come through litigation, not legislation. For example, the right to marry which Lamba legal was co counsel before the Supreme Court and the Obergefell versus Hodges case in 2015, six years ago, was one through an impact litigation lawsuit that was heard by the Supreme Court, it was not passed by legislatures. So Lambda Legal has been a part of virtually every major advance for LGBTQ rights Since our founding in 1973, including such things as winning the rights of students to have college LGBT student groups,