(Chicago, IL, April 15, 2013) — On Wednesday, April 24th, Lambda Legal will hold its annual Bon Foster Celebration, commemorating its 40th anniversary nationally and the 20th year since the opening of the Midwest Regional Office in Chicago.
The Robert Bonvouloir "Bon" Foster Celebration, now in its 20th year, honors the late civil rights activist and attorney whose generosity aided in the creation of Lambda Legal's Midwest Regional Office. Launched as the Bon Foster Memorial Lecture Series in 1994, the event has steadily grown to become Lambda Legal's major fundraising event in Chicago, attracting more than 500 attendees annually. The event honors the memory of Bon Foster with a focus on Lambda Legal's ground breaking civil rights work. In the spectacular setting of the Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing, the Bon Foster Celebration promises to mark both anniversaries in style.
Since the opening of the Chicago office, Lambda Legal has been involved in several ground-breaking cases in the Midwest, expanding the protections for LGBT people and people living with HIV. In the 1990s the Midwest office won a historic legal precedent holding schools responsible for harassment and violence against LGBTQ students in Nabozny v. Podlesny. In 2009, Lambda Legal obtained a historic unanimous decision in Iowa Supreme Court, which ruled that denying marriage to same-sex couples is unconstitutional (Varnum v. Brien). This landmark victory made Iowa the first state in the Midwest where same-sex couples can marry. Currently in Iowa, in the case Rhoades v. Iowa, Lambda Legal is challenging a law that sentenced an HIV-positive man to 25 years in prison after a one-time sexual encounter.
Since its founding in 1973, Lambda Legal fought and won some of the nation's first cases on behalf of lesbian and gay parents and same-sex couples. Lambda Legal secures legal precedent to protect the basic rights of LGBT people and people with HIV and AIDS.
In June 2012, Lambda Legal launched the ILove Campaign in support of the 16 plaintiff couples in Darby v. Orr, a lawsuit seeking the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Illinois. More information on the couples and the case is available at www.lambdalegal.org/ilove . In late 2012, Lambda Legal, along with the ACLU of Illinois and Equality Illinois, founded Illinois Unites, a broad coalition of Illinois -based organizations, faith leaders and businesses in support of The Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act, a legislative effort aimed at bringing marriage for same-sex couples to Illinois.
WHAT: The 20th annual Bon Foster Celebration, with Open Bar/Buffet Reception, DJ Sadie Woods
WHEN: Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 6:00 - 9:30 PM
WHERE: Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Wing,159 East Monroe Street, Chicago, IL
Purchase tickets online here or contact Jeff Souva at 312-663-4413, ext. 335.
Follow the event on facebook: tinyurl.com/bonfosterfb .
