CBA Presidential Series on Equal Protection: Marriage Equality

The second program in the Connecticut Bar Association Presidential Series on Equal Protection will be presented by:
 

Attorney Mary L. Bonauto
Civil Rights Project Director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)

Join us for an insider’s look on the progress of the civil rights movement for LGBT equality,
with a focus on the on-going battle for marriage equality in state and federal court, the legislature, and the ballot box.

This program is a part of a year-long series on Equal Protection in different contexts sponsored by the CBA
and is made possible in part by the generosity of the University of Connecticut School of Law.

The program is free and open to all on a first come basis. A light breakfast will be served prior to the event.

Attorney Bonauto is a leading attorney making the case for marriage equality for same-sex couples. She  has been the Civil Rights Project Director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) since 1990. Her practice concentrates on impact litigation for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, as well as people living with HIV or AIDS. She has litigated widely in the state and federal courts and agencies of the six New England states since 1990 on issues of employment discrimination, custody, free speech and civil rights. In 1999, she and two Vermont co-counsel won a ruling that same-sex couples are entitled to all of the benefits and protections of civil marriage in the case of Baker v. State of Vermont. This ruling prompted the Vermont legislature to enact the nation’s first “civil union” law for same-sex couples. Mary was lead counsel in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, which resulted in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s landmark decision that prohibiting civil marriage for same-sex couples is unconstitutional. Mary was also co-counsel in Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, in which the Connecticut Supreme Court held that same-sex couples were guaranteed the right to civil marriage under the Connecticut state constitution. She is currently leading GLAD’s challenge to the constitutionality of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in two cases in federal court, including Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management, which is pending in federal district court in Connecticut.

Mary is a graduate of Hamilton College and Northeastern University School of Law.