The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest civil rights organisation dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, yesterday announced a campaign to educate clients and potential recruits about King & Spalding’s decision to voluntarily take up the legal defence of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on behalf of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.

HRC

DOMA denies over 1,000 rights and benefits to legally married same-sex couples, including social security survivor benefits, health care for spouses of government employees, or even the ability for spouses to be buried together in veteran’s cemeteries.  Additionally, same-sex couples do not receive any tax benefits from the ability to file jointly and aren’t exempt as other spouses are from rules that require you to sell off assets, including your own home, in order to qualify for federal assistance programs in times of grave illness.

“The bottom line is that K&S was under no obligation to take this case. They consciously chose to defend a law that discriminates against LGBT Americans, including K&S’s LGBT employees and clients,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese. “Discrimination, no matter how profitable, is never good business. What’s especially appalling and ironic is that K&S ignored its own highly touted commitment to diversity by taking on this unprincipled engagement.” (www.kslaw.com/About-Us/Diversity/LGBT)

HRC’s campaign will consist of the following components:

·    Ads in mainstream and legal publications entitled “Shame” that feature the stories of families affected by discriminatory law.

·    Informational letters to the firm’s clients and organizations to which they have made charitable contributions informing them of K&S’s decision to promote discrimination.

·    Informational letters to the nation’s top law schools informing them of K&S’s decision to promote discrimination.

·    Organising law students to convey their feelings to K&S.

·    Email and Twitter campaign among HRC’s members and supporters, more than one million supporters of equal rights.

·    Reconsideration of the firm’s Corporate Equality Index score if its decision to take this case remains unchanged.  Presently, the company receives a 95% which it markets quite proudly as part of its diversity story.

“We don’t hold out much hope that K&S will drop this engagement. At $520 per hour, the firm is profiting mightily from discrimination,” said Solmonese. “The goal is to send a message to all law firms and corporations that decisions have consequences. If you decide to suborn discrimination, then be prepared to explain why to the millions of fair-minded Americans.”

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