The National LGBT Bar Association's conference will be returning to Chicago after a seven year absence for its annual Lavender Law Conference and Career Fair Aug. 5-8 at the Chicago Marriot Downtown Magnificent Mile. This is the third time that Lavender Law will take place in Chicago.
Mary Bonauto, the Civil Rights Project director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, who argued for marriage equality before the Supreme Court in the recent landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges, will be among those speaking at the morning plenary Aug. 5. A welcome reception will take place that evening at the Navy Pier Rooftop Terrace featuring opening remarks by Maura Healey, the nation's first openly gay elected state attorney general.
Calpernia Addams, an actress and transgender-rights activist who has emceed previous Lavender Law conferences, will be returning as the mistress of ceremonies. Addams' life story is the basis of the film Soldier's Girl and she has also starred in numerous television and film projects, including the reality series Transamerican Love Story. Addams also co-runs a production company called Deep Stealth Productions and has previously worked with the National LGBT Bar Association on dismantling the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy.
The National LGBT Bar Association is, according to its website, "a national association of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals, law students, activists and affiliated LGBT legal organizations. The LGBT Bar promotes justice in and through the legal profession for the LGBT community in all its diversity."
The seeds of the organization were planted at the Second National March on Washington for Gay & Lesbian Rights in 1987, when a handful of lawyers came together and shared resources, especially concerning issues surrounding the AIDS crisis.
"We originally started in Illinois and the late Bill Kelley was the one who incorporated us," said D'Arcy Kemnitz, executive director of the National LGBT Bar Association. "The association, which is the membership portion, is an Illinois corporation and the foundation, which runs the conference, is a Minnesota corporation. It was originally called the National Lesbian & Gay Law Association because we didn't want to be called the Gay Bar back then."
The first Lavender Law conference took place in 1988, one year before the National LGBT Bar Association's founding in 1989. For the past 13 years, the conference has also had a career-fair component, to be held Aug. 7 this year.
In 1992, the association became an official affiliate of the American Bar Association ( ABA ), which is headquartered in Chicago. The ABA currently has 26 official affiliates.
"The ABA is much more of a welcoming place now and they also have their own Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity," said Kemnitz.
Last year's conference and career fair, which took place in New York City, had 1,650 attendees. Representatives from some of the nation's largest corporationsincluding BMW of North America, Liberty Mutual and Walmartwere in attendance last year and plan to recruit and/or exhibit at this year's conference.
This year's conference will feature more than 40 workshops and panel discussions, seven of which will deal with trans issues. Other workshops will deal with family law, HIV/AIDS and intersex issues. There will also be three general attendance sessions and a number of receptions. Attendees will be able to earn a total of 12 Continuing Legal Education ( CLE ) credits at the conference.
The career fair will feature about 200 entities including governmental agencies, businesses, banks, non-profit organizations and the nation's top law firms recruiting for LGBT diversity.
Kemnitz noted that she hopes attendees make connections first and foremost, as well as have fun because this conference is a family reunion of sorts for LGBT lawyers.
"I'm encouraging everyone to come to Lavender Law even if they aren't lawyers so they can find out what's next regarding LGBT issues," said Kemnitz. "We need smart people working on these issues because when the Supreme Court rules on marriage equality that won't be the end of the LGBT civil rights movement. We also want to make sure that Chicago is going to outperform NYC in terms of attendance because we don't think Chicago is the Second City we think it's our city."
"We need a lot of volunteers because lawyers have a tendency to move really fast," said Kemnitz. "We have to make sure that everyone gets scanned into and out of the CLE sessions so attendees will get their CLE credits."
To volunteer for the conference email Kemnitz at info@lgbtbar.org .
See www.lgbtbar.org/annual for more information and to register for the conference.