The legal aid group that first had to defend itself

On 18 October 1973, an organisation in New York received approval after the state had initially refused its incorporation on remarkable grounds. The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund was to provide pro bono legal help to gay men and lesbians – the first organisation of its kind in the United States. But before it could represent others, it had to fight for its own recognition.

In the early seventies, lawyer Bill Thom had filed the incorporation papers. At the time, this required court approval. The court in question refused it: the intended purposes were neither charitable nor benevolent, and no need for such an organisation had been shown. Homosexuals were undoubtedly discriminated against, the court conceded. But it did not follow that they lacked legal representation.

Thom challenged the decision before the Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York State. In the summer of 1973, it overturned the refusal in the case "In re Thom". By October, approval had finally been granted.

The beginnings were modest. Lambda Legal had no office; Thom worked from his flat and fixed the organisation's name to the letterbox with a plaster. In its very first years, it represented soldiers discharged from the army because of their homosexuality, student groups denied recognition and parents fighting for custody of their children. In July 1974, the Internal Revenue Service granted Lambda Legal tax-exempt status, the first gay and lesbian organisation in the country to receive it.

Later, the organisation took on landmark cases against workplace discrimination, for the rights of people with HIV, to protect bullied young people at school and for marriage equality. In 2003, Lambda Legal was involved in "Lawrence v. Texas", the case in which the Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws across the United States.

Once upon a time, a court had seen no need for this work.