Registration is now open for a December 9, 2020, Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program addressing fair housing law and discrimination based on LGBTQ status. This online presentation — “Expanding the Fight for Equality: The LGBTQ Community and Housing Discrimination” — will highlight zealous representation of members of the LGBTQ community with a panel discussion of community experiences. The program will also discuss the expansion of Fair Housing Act protections to the LGBTQ community after the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Bostock v. Clayton in June 2020, as well as look at the defenses under federal religious exemption laws.
This presentation will be ideal for attorneys representing clients in Fair Housing discrimination cases and anyone interested in learning about legal challenges to housing discrimination in the LGBTQ community.
Event details:
December 9, 2020 – 9:00am to 12:30pm
To register, visit: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2983987007719358734
Cost: $65 for attorneys obtaining 3.0 CLE credits, including .5 CLE of ethics (pending approval from State Bar).
Free for LANC staff, LANC volunteer attorneys, non-attorneys, law students and others not seeking CLE credits.
For more information, or for information on scholarships for low income individuals, please visit http://www.fairhousingnc.org, email info@legalaidnc.org or contact the Fair Housing Project at (855) 797-3247.
Presenters:
Amy Whelan, Senior Staff Attorney, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy issues, American Atheists
Charly Gilfoil, Staff Attorney, Legal Aid of NC
Ames Simmons, Policy Director, Equality NC
Rev. Deborah Hopkins, Exec. Dir., There’s Still Hope shelter
Vanity Deterville, LGBTQ Center of Durham
Alexander Blades, LGBTQ Center of Durham
Presenter Biographies
Community Panel
Charly Gilfoil: She/her, Staff Attorney, Legal Aid of NC, Durham Office
Charly Gilfoil is a Staff Attorney with the Medical-Legal Partnership program of Legal Aid of North Carolina in Durham. In this role, she provides free legal resources and consultations for patients of medical partners around Durham, including those at El Futuro, Lincoln Community Health Center, and Duke Pediatrics. She also represents clients in various matters in District and Superior Court and proceedings in front of Social Security and the Department of Social Services. She is committed to prioritizing access to social supports for those most endangered by our current systems. Charly earned a J.D. with honors from Georgetown University Law Center in 2018. While at Georgetown, she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law and represented clients as part of the Civil Rights Clinic. She is an active member of the D.C. and North Carolina Bar.
Ames Simmons: He/him, Policy Director, Equality North Carolina
Ames Simmons is a queer white trans man serving as Equality NC’s Policy Director and as Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law School. His work is rooted in community-based efforts prioritizing anti-violence, anti-oppression and transgender justice. Ames is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and Georgia. He also serves on Legal Aid of NC’s Local Advisory Committee in Durham.
Alexander Blades: They/them, Raleigh community resident
Vanity Reid Deterville: She/her, Program Director, Gender Resource Advocacy & Support Programs, LGBTQ Center of Durham
Vanity Reid Deterville is a recent graduate of the College of Charleston. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science major concentrating in Public Policy and is a native of Charleston, SC. As a West Indian descent transgender woman of color from the south, she stands at the intersections of the LGBTQ+ and Black communities and has asserted how she must approach spaces and social issues with a very critical perspective. As an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, she is ending a two-term board member position as the Charleston Pride Director of Diversity from 2018-2020. She served as a Senior Undergraduate Assistant at the Avery Research Center for African American History and culture in the Spring of 2020. On January 13 2020, she was featured on CNN’s “New Day” morning segment for their inaugural “Pulse of the People” voter’s panel on which she offered her criticisms and support of the 2020 Democratic Presidential candidates in order to exercise her political knowledge beyond the classroom walls. As a Facilitator in the “Transformative Teaching Collective” she stands by restorative and healing justice, social change and professional development for marginalized communities like the LGBTQ community and communities of color. She has recently transitioned into the nonprofit workforce as the new Gender Resource Advocacy and Support Programs (GRASP) Program Director at the LGBTQ Center of Durham, North Carolina.
Reverend Debra J. Hopkins: She/her, Founding Director, There’s Still Hope shelter
Rev. Debra J. Hopkins is the Founding Pastor of Essentials for Life Ministries, an online ministry that continues to focus on love and acceptance. She’s the author of her new book “Not Until You Have Walked On My Shoes,” currently found on Amazon.com, and the Founder & Executive Director of There’s Still Hope, a trans-led nonprofit organization that provide temporary shelter for homeless Transgender adults & Victims of Domestic Violence in Mecklenburg County. Debra also spent time traveling around the country advocating for the underserved people of our LGBTQIA communities, facilitating workshops as an inspirational-motivational speaker & teacher, along with participating in educational conferences and Town Hall discussions throughout the year. She is also a frequent speaker at colleges & universities in North Carolina. As an activist, Debra believes “words have POWER” and she believes we can all be a real “Voice for Change” through action, activism, and community involvement that will help put an end to the social and economic discrimination that’s ever present in this country.
Law & Policy Panel
Amy Whelan: She/her, Senior Staff Attorney, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Amy Whelan has been a Senior Staff Attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) since 2011 and works on NCLR’s full range of litigation, policy, and public education work. Amy litigates complex civil cases around the country regarding marriage equality, employment discrimination, Title IX, family law, access to healthcare, prisoners’ civil rights, the First Amendment, and other constitutional matters. Amy represented the mother of a transgender teenager who was subjected to severe discrimination during an inpatient stay, resulting in a landmark opinion holding that discrimination based on a person’s transgender identity is sex discrimination under the Affordable Care Act. Amy also represents Adree Edmo, a transgender woman housed in the Idaho Department of Corrections who was denied gender affirming surgery despite her desperate need for that care. NCLR, along with co-counsel, obtained an order finding that the denial of care violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and requiring prison officials to provide the surgery. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision, which the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review. In July 2020, Ms. Edmo became the second person in the country to receive court-ordered surgery in prison. Amy also represents Mary Walsh and Bev Nance in their litigation against a senior living facility that denied them housing because they are a same-sex couple. Before joining NCLR, Amy was an associate at the San Francisco firm of Rosen, Bien, Galvan & Grunfeld LLP (RBGG). In 2008 and 2009, Amy was a member of the trial team in Coleman/Plata v. Schwarzenegger, a combined lawsuit challenging the California prison system’s unconstitutional provision of medical and mental healthcare because of severe overcrowding. A unanimous three-judge panel ruled in favor of the prisoners in that case and the United States Supreme Court affirmed that decision in 2011. Amy received her Bachelor’s Degree from Princeton University and her Juris Doctorate from Northeastern University School of Law.
Alison Gill: She/her, Vice President, Legal & Policy, American Atheists
Alison Gill manages American Atheists’ federal and state advocacy for religious equality and litigation activities to protect the separation of religion and government. Alison is a nationally recognized expert on civil rights law and state advocacy. Prior to her work with American Atheists, Alison worked as a consultant to nonprofits focusing on advocacy strategy and systemic change and as Senior Legislative Counsel at the Human Rights Campaign, where she managed state-level advocacy on issues such as conversion therapy, bullying prevention, education discrimination, health and wellness, youth homelessness, and data collection.
Sponsors:
The event is sponsored by: Fair Housing Project, Legal Aid of NC; Equality NC; NC Justice Center; LGBTQ Center of Durham; OUTLAW, Duke Law School chapter; OUTLAW, Elon Law School Chapter; Lambda Law, UNC Law School chapter; NLG, UNC Law School chapter; City of Greensboro Human Relations Department; Raleigh Fair Housing Hearing Board; NC Human Relations Commission; Winston-Salem Human Relations Commission; City of Durham Department of Neighborhood Improvement Services, Human Relations Division; Charlotte/Mecklenburg Community Relations Commission; City of Fayetteville Fair Housing Board.
This Continuing Legal Education program is funded in part through a grant under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
