Blog of Rights
James
Esseks

James D. Esseks joined the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project in 2001 as Litigation Director. In his current position, he oversees legal advocacy nationwide that aims to ensure equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people by the government; equal rights and protections for LGBT couples and families; protection from discrimination in jobs, schools, housing, and public accommodations; and fair treatment by the government of people living with HIV/AIDS. Prior to joining the ACLU, he was a partner at Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P.C., in New York. He graduated from Yale College and Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. He clerked for U.S. Judge James R. Browning on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Carter in the Southern District of New York.

06/06/2012
Defense of Marriage Act

Another DOMA Win!

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 7:44pm

When it rains, it pours! Late this afternoon, another federal judge ruled that the so-called federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the federal constitution. The ruling came in an ACLU case brought by Edie Windsor after the death of her spouse and partner of 44 years, Thea Spyer. 

Edie and Thea became a couple way back in 1965. By 1967, long before marriage for same-sex couples was anything more than a pipe dream, Thea proposed marriage to Edie – that’s just what their relationship meant to them. Thea couldn’t give her an engagement ring, because Edie wouldn’t have been able to explain it to her colleagues at IBM, so she gave her a diamond pin instead. They were inseparable for the next four decades. 

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04/25/2012
Transgender Rights

EEOC Breakthrough: Anti-Transgender Discrimination Is Unlawful

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 4:16pm

Consider this: A person applies for a job at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives as a ballistics forensic technician, is well-qualified for the position, and is offered the job. She then tells ATF that she is transitioning from male to female. A few days later, she's told the job has been cut for budget reasons. And then she learns that the job hasn't been cut, it's simply been given to someone else, who isn't transgender.

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02/24/2012
Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

Maryland: Breakthrough Moment on the Freedom to Marry!

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 12:37pm

With yesterday’s passage of a Maryland bill opening the freedom to marry to same-sex couples, there’s no denying it anymore – we’re at a breakthrough moment in the struggle for fair marriage laws. 

The Maryland marriage law passed the state Senate 25-22 yesterday, after passing the House 72-67 last Friday, and was the result of leadership by the governor and lots of hard work by the Marylanders for Marriage Equality coalition, of which the ACLU is a proud and active member. Even amidst the joy in Annapolis this week, we and the coalition are preparing for the possibility that our opponents will manage to put the marriage law on the ballot this coming November. Part of that work will be highlighting our many, diverse, and growing supporters across the state. A majority of Marylanders are with us and momentum continues to build!

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02/14/2012
Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

Love Is in the Air: Update on Efforts to Expand the Freedom to Marry

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 3:09pm

A quick guide to what's happening with efforts to expand marriage for same-sex couples on the ground now and what’s in store for us during the rest of 2012.

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01/26/2012

Clinging to the Side of a Pool, Fighting for Equality

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 5:18pm

The country and the ACLU lost a champion of civil rights earlier this month, when Robert L. Carter, federal judge and former general counsel of the NAACP, died at 94. Judge Carter’s astounding contributions to reforming American law about race discrimination are detailed in a NY Times obituary and his fascinating book, A Matter of Law: A Memoir of Struggle in the Cause of Equal Rights.

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01/05/2012
LGBT Discrimination in the Workplace

Just Plain Mean

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 5:06pm

Today we challenged a new Michigan law that bars cities and counties from providing health insurance to the domestic partners of their employees.

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09/16/2011
Gender Discrimination

Wear That Dress or Else!

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 4:59pm

That’s basically what a high school principal told Ceara Sturgis at the start of her senior year — you’ve got to wear a “drape,” or scoop-necked covering that looks like the top of a dress, in the yearbook photo. Ceara isn’t comfortable in such revealing clothing, and had spent her entire high school career wearing more masculine attire. The photographer took Ceara’s picture in a tuxedo instead of the drape, as she requested, but the principal jettisoned that photo and printed the yearbook without either her photo or her name appearing in the senior portrait section.

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08/08/2011
Transgender Rights

Court Strikes Down Wisconsin Law Prohibiting Medical Treatment for Transgender Prisoners

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 3:31pm

Last Friday, we got a fabulous ruling from a federal appeals court striking down a Wisconsin law that prohibited prison doctors from prescribing medically necessary treatments for transgender prisoners. It’s a great step forward in the ACLU’s continuing effort to explain to courts and to the country that transgender people have health needs that should be taken seriously by our health care system.

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07/26/2011
Transgender ID

Excuse Me, Ma'am, This Isn’t Your ID

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 2:34pm

Last fall, K.L., an Alaskan who transitioned to living as a woman two years ago, got her local Department of Motor Vehicles office to change the gender marker on her driver’s license from M to F.  She was thrilled to have her identity documents reflect her true gender.  Then she got the letter from the state – prove you’ve had sex reassignment surgery or we’ll take the new license back.

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06/27/2011

On a Roll — Marriage in New York!

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 4:17pm

I’m sure you’ve heard the fabulous news that the New York State Senate passed the marriage bill and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has championed the measure with gusto, signed it into law Friday night, which will make New York the sixth state, plus D.C., to give same-sex couples the freedom to marry.

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