Since 1977, NCLR—now known as the National Center for LGBTQ Rights—has been fighting for justice and equity for our entire community. Here’s a look back at some key moments in the organization’s history.
1977 – The Beginning
In 1977, two lesbian leaders—Donna Hitchens and Roberta Achtenberg—co-founded the Lesbian Rights Project, later renamed the National Center for Lesbian Rights and now the National Center for LGBTQ Rights. Achtenberg went on to be the first out lesbian to serve on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Hitchens was the first out lesbian to be elected to the bench in U.S. history.
1980s – History of Legal Firsts
Family Law is an area of focus at NCLR. In 1980, the organization won a landmark victory in California for Denise Kreps, who was denied a job as County Sheriff because of her sexual orientation. In 1986, NCLR also successfully represented Annie Affleck and Rebecca Smith as they become one of the first same-sex couples to jointly adopt in the U.S. In 1988, NCLR won one of the nation’s first court custody battles for a parent with AIDS on behalf of Artie Wallace, a gay dad whose son was kidnapped by his ex-wife. And in 2009, NCLR won a landmark case requiring Florida to recognize second parent adoptions from other states.
1993 – Advocates for LGBTQ Youth
NCLR became the first LGBTQ legal organization in the country to launch a project dedicated to advocating for LGBTQ youth. In 2020, NCLR won a historic U.S. Supreme Court case upholding the right of colleges and universities to enforce non-discrimination policies that protect LGBTQ students. Directly following in 2011, NCLR successfully represented two LGBTQ students in Minnesota in one of the first cases allowing a same-sex couple to attend a school dance.
1994 – Protecting Immigrants
NCLR was the first national LGBTQ legal organization to create a program for LGBTQ immigrants and asylum seekers. The organization’s Immigration Project has helped thousands of LGBTQ immigrants obtain legal status in the U.S. NCLR has represented hundreds of asylum seekers. In 2012, NCLR helped a lesbian couple from the United Arab Emirates when they arrived in the U.S. to escape death threats from their families.
1999 – Guarding Our Elders
NCLR is the first LGBT legal organization to launch a permanent Elder Law Project as the first wave of baby boomers become senior citizens. In 2020, NCLR won a settlement from a senior housing facility on behalf of Mary Walsh and Bev Nance who had faced discrimination because they were a lesbian couple. Then, in 2010, NCLR represented Clay Greene, an elderly man forcefully removed from the Northern California home he shared with his long-time partner after he was hospitalized, eventually settling the case for $600,000.
2001 – Trans Safeguards
NCLR was the first national LGBTQ legal organization to launch a Transgender Law Project. This project has won many vital cases—including stopping Trump’s cruel Trans Military Ban in 2017—and continues fighting for trans rights including winning injunctions in 2022 against laws criminalizing essential medical care for transgender children in Alabama and banning transgender girls from school sports in Utah. Given the threats posed by the second Trump presidency, this tireless fight continues.
2001 – LGBTQ Athletic Defenders
In 2001, NCLR also became the first national LGBTQ organization to tackle homophobia and transphobia in sports with the launch of the Sports Project led by long-time LGBTQ sports pioneer Helen Carroll. In 2005, NCLR filed a lawsuit against Penn State on behalf of lesbian players who claimed they were discriminated against by their coach.
2008 – Love Is Love
NCLR’s Legal Director Shannon Minter was lead counsel for several same-sex couples in the landmark California marriage equality case. In 2014, NCLR helped win a lawsuit that allowed the first same-sex couples to marry in Miami-Dade County, Florida. NCLR went on to litigate marriage equality cases in Alabama, Florida, Idaho, New Mexico, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming. In 2015, NCLR’s Tennessee case was part of the historic U.S. Supreme Court victory that established marriage equality nationwide.
2013 – #BornPerfect
NCLR’s Born Perfect is the first national legal campaign to end the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy. A priority of NCLR’s work since the early 1990s, Born Perfect has worked to ban this deadly practice in more than 20 states and 100+ municipalities in the U.S. In 2022, the Ninth Circuit unanimously upheld Washington state’s law protecting LGBTQ minors from conversion therapy.
2019–2024 – A New Leader
NCLR embarked on the next chapter in its history by naming Imani Rupert-Gordon as the organization’s Executive Director, succeeding Kate Kendell after 22 years. Rupert-Gordon’s leadership on LGBTQ justice and its intersection with economic, gender, racial, and disability justice is changing the scope and trajectory of our movement. In September 2022, she was invited to join then Vice President Kamala Harris and other civil rights leaders for a meeting at the White House to stress the urgency to protect reproductive and voting rights.
2025 – The National Center for LGBTQ Rights
As this brief look at NCLR history reveals, the organization—whose name in June 2025 was changed to the National Center for LGBTQ Rights—has always fought for the basic human rights of all LGBTQ+ community members. With that in mind, check out what your rights are now in a detailed fact sheet prepared by NCLR along with other California LGBTQ+, healthcare, and civil rights advocates: https://bit.ly/43yqsb1
National Center for LGBTQ Rights
Published on June 12, 2025
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