News

The Virginia Equality Bar Association has officially submitted its public statement in opposition of the Virginia Department of Education's 2022 Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia's Public Schools (the "2022 Model Policies").  As a recognized expert in legal name and gender marker changes in the Commonwealth of Virginia, VEBA calls on the Virginia Board of Education to reject the 2022 Model Policies and for school boards across the Commonwealth to decline to adopt the 2022 Model Policies. They are legally unsound and cruel and will undoubtedly cost the Commonwealth precious money and energy defending these overtly illegal policies in court.  

As described in greater detail in VEBA's public comment, VEBA's critique of the 2022 Model Policies is grounded on the following legal arguments:

• There is no legal document that durably reflects sex assigned at birth, or supposed “biological sex,” in Virginia.
• There is no reasonable legal basis for requiring a legal document to change a student’s sex in official school records.
• The 2022 Model Policies ignore legally established sex/gender designations.
• The 2022 Model Policies implicitly require intrusive physical examination of students’ bodies, which would not serve any rational interest and would make youth more vulnerable.
• The 2022 Model Policies ignore the fact that intersex people exist.
• Adopting the 2022 Model Policies will knowingly lead to protracted and expensive litigation despite already inadequate levels of funding for public education.

The public comment period remains open until 11:59 pm tonight, October 26, 2022.  If you have not done so already, please feel free to leverage VEBA's comment or submit one of your own on the Virginia Regulatory Townhall Website.  

For a downloadable PDF of VEBA's full statement opposing the 2022 Model Policies, please click here. 

Special thanks to VEBA Board Members, Wyatt Rolla and Laura Manchester, and Volunteer Clinical Program Director, Bary Hausrath, for their time and effort drafting VEBA's public statement. 

Congratulations to VEBA's Bary Hausrath on being named one of the country's best 40 lawyers under 40! A well deserved honor for all Bary does for the LGBTQ community throughout Virginia. With VEBA, Bary has demonstrated a commitment to LGBTQ+ advocacy and clients through leadership; preparing, coordinating, and leading several transgender name and gender marker change clinics; and contributing to pro bono and referral initiatives on behalf of LGBTQ+ persons.

See the National LGBT Bar Association's page announcing the distinguished 2019 class of best LGBTQ+ lawyers here.

Please help spread the word! VEBA is sponsoring a free Name and Gender Marker Change Clinic on February 16 in Northern Virginia. http://tinyurl.com/ybkcyf5n

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¡Por favor ayuda a correr la voz! VEBA está patrocinando una Clínica de Cambio de Nombre y Marcador de Género gratuita el 16 de febrero en el norte de Virginia. http://tinyurl.com/ybkcyf5n

From our friends at William & Mary...

The College of William & Mary Mock Trial Presents the 

4th Annual Colonial Classic Tournament 

OCTOBER 27TH-28TH | WILLIAMSBURG, VA

We cordially request your assistance in judging at the Fourth Annual Colonial Classic Undergraduate Mock Trial Tournament. The Colonial Classic will take place Saturday, October 27 and Sunday, October 28, 2018 at the College of William & Mary. There will be twenty-four high-caliber teams in attendance from seventeen colleges spanning seven states and Washington, D.C. Many represented schools have competed in the national championship tournament. 

The Colonial Classic will use the 2018-19 American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) case, which is a civil case of negligence. Those individuals who volunteer to judge will receive a case summary in advance of the competition. 

Each team will come prepared with a unique version of this case. To meet our goal, we must recruit 144 members of the Bar to score and preside at the trials. We would be most honored if you would judge at this event. No experience in mock trial judging is necessary; a brief orientation and meal will precede each trial. The tournament’s four judge report times are 9:00 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. on Saturday, October 27; and at 9:00 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, October 28. No advance preparation is necessary. 

You will be paired with at least one other attorney or judge and will then watch a trial lasting approximately three hours. Judges usually provide a brief critique of the trial after submitting scoring sheets. The total time commitment (including the orientation session and meal) for each round is four hours. Judges may participate in as many trials as they like. 

To register as a judge, simply email me at gkangle@email.wm.edu with your name, phone number, and the specific round(s) that you would like to judge. You may also contact me at (512) 695-7997 or wmmocktrial@gmail.com with any questions or concerns. 

We hope you are able to participate for at least one trial, if not more. Please feel free to pass this information along to your colleagues. We appreciate your willingness to support legal and civic education in Mock Trial at the College of William & Mary. 

Sincerely, 

Grayce Angle 

Vice President, Tournament Director 

William & Mary Mock Trial 

Edit: Due to logistical challenges, the June 22 event is postponed. A new date will be announced ASAP; please join the VEBA mailing list to be included on the announcement.

Join the Virginia Equality Bar Association, Lambda Legal, and our hosting sponsor McGuireWoods, LLP for a special presentation and CLE* luncheon with Lambda Legal Counsel and Employment Fairness Project Director, Gregory R. Nevins.

"Out At Work: Advancing Law & Protections for LGBT People in Employment Settings" will take place on Friday, June 22, 2018 from 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM at the Richmond office of McGuireWoods, LLP located at 800 E. Canal Street. Lunch will be from 12:00 PM -12:30 PM and the program will run from 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM. 

An RSVP is required to attend this free event. Lunch is provided courtesy of McGuireWoods. 

Parking can be found at James Center Parking (GPS Address is 1000 E. Canal Street). 

The CLE and lunch will take place in the Frances Hayes Conference Room on the 18th Floor.

For further questions please contact Terence Caldwell at 404-897-1880 or tcaldwell at lambdalegal dot org 

*Application for one (1) hour of Virginia MCLE credit approval is pending.

RSVP Here.

The Virginia Equality Bar Association, in coordination with Equality Virginia, will be presenting a touring series of pop-up free legal clinics for name and gender marker changes this July. Registration for clients is now open here.

All of the clinics will run from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., with attorney trainings occurring beforehand from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Attorney and law student volunteer registration will open shortly via www.vaequalitybar.org -- when registration opens, it will be announced to the VEBA membership by email.  

The first clinic will be held in Winchester at Shenandoah University on July 14; the second, in Norfolk's Slover Library on July 21; and the third, on July 28 at Unitarian Universalist Church of Roanoke. 

VEBA's Name and Gender Marker Change Clinics have helped hundreds of individuals change their names and gender markers on vital records and identity documents. 

Join VEBA here.

With no anti-LGBT bills to fight in the General Assembly, now is the time to energize and mobilize to make sure that our combined voices are heard. Together, we can push through legislation that will help make our state a safer, more welcoming, and fairer place. Let your delegate and senator know how you feel at https://tinyurl.com/y76eaerp

The Virginia Equality Bar Association congratulates all of the candidates who won elections in Virginia. We look forward to working with each of you to secure equality for the LGBTQ community and oppose discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

We especially congratulate the House of Delegates candidates who participated in our October 24th Candidate Forum (Dawn Adams - 68th District, Schuyler VanValkenburg - 72nd District, and Debra Rodman - 73rd District), each of whom won their districts. Democracy works best when its citizens have the opportunity to hear about the positions of their candidates directly from those running for office.

Finally, we are honored to extend our congratulations to Danica Roem (13th District) for her historic election. Delegate-elect Roem won her fiercely contested election with hard work, perseverance and dignity. When she takes office in January, Delegate Roem will be the first transgender member of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Virginia Equality Bar Association ("VEBA") abhors the violence carried out in the City of Charlottesville in the name of white supremacy this weekend. VEBA continues to fight for the rights of LGBTQ Virginians, and believes we only advance as a society when all of us are treated equally under the law. Marches and violence based on supremacy of any group is anathema to the values Americans and Virginians hold dear.

Yesterday, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring released an opinion concluding that, to the extent existing federal law barring discrimination in employment on the basis of sex prohibits, by implication, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, Virginia's Human Rights Act also prohibits that discrimination.

The Virginia Equality Bar Association applauds and thanks the Attorney General for issuing this thorough, cautious, and helpful opinion.  While Attorney General's opinions are not binding on the courts, they are considered persuasive authority.  Historically, opinions from the Office of the Attorney General help to advance the understanding of existing Virginia law.  Even if the reasoning of the opinion is not ultimately adopted by the courts, the debate it prompts may spur further legislative action.  

VEBA welcomes this debate. As these issues unfold in the courts and general assembly, VEBA will continue its work to secure equality for the LGBT community and to oppose discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. 

You can read the entire opinion here.