By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

Lambda Legal executive director Kevin Cathcart last week detailed the organization’s 2008 docket at their Chicago-area major donors breakfast, held Jan. 8 in the offices of the Kirkland and Ellis law firm.

Besides the anniversary of the organization’s founding, Cathcart excitedly reminded the audience, 2008 holds another milestone for Lambda Legal—the fifth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas decision.

“It was probably our most shining moment in Washington, D.C.,” Cathcart said.

He then described a few of the court battles the organization would likely undertake this year. In Ohio, for example, one case addresses the implications of that state’s anti-gay marriage amendment for victims of domestic violence. He said the case would likely educate the public on the negative implications anti-gay legislation can have on all people, gay or straight.

In time, Cathcart said, the marriage amendments may do a lot of damage “that will need to be undone.”

He also said that many eyes would be drawn to California this year, with that state’s supreme court likely to hear arguments about the validity of same-sex marriages authorized by San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004.

While most states’ supreme courts would hear arguments and then take several months to deliberate, the California Supreme Court is required to issue their decisions relatively faster. As such, they have dragged their heels about hearing the same-sex marriage arguments, but the law says they’ll have to do so soon, according to Cathcart.

He added that “the broadest array of groups of people,” ranging from the NAACP to the American Psychological Association, have filed amicus briefs in support of the marriages.

“For all those briefs to be filed, think of all the conversations that had to have taken place,” Cathcart said.

Cathcart also described upcoming cases in Wisconsin and New York state, among other locations.

He said Lambda Legal maintains local presences across the country because that’s where most of their groundwork has to be done. Discrimination cases arise all across the country, as the California case illustrates, but GLBTs in smaller communities are usually the ones still fighting inequality.

“It’s about how you build connections with (local) communities,” Cathcart said. “While we could do all the legal work in New York, we wouldn’t have all the work to do.”

The organization counts on pro bono support from local law firms, according to Cathcart, because it “enables us to do our work. We have 20 lawyers (nationally).”

Without that support, he added, “We would not be able to do (a fraction) of what we do.”

Lambda Legal’s budget—currently about $12 million—is “the largest it’s ever been,” according to Cathcart, but still pales in comparison to the legal resources of the far right. Alliance Defense Fund, which frequently challenges Lambda Legal in court, has a budget of about $32 million, he said.

He added that most of his organization’s funding comes from individual donations, law firms and corporations and foundations.

“The federal government is never going to fund us,” Cathcart said.

He said he is optimistic about gay marriage and civil unions. He admitted that change on those issues has been coming about slowly, but noted, “More laws passed in the last two years than in the previous 20 regarding relationship protection.”