LGBTQ+ Rights

Kelley Drye attorneys have demonstrated a continued commitment to providing pro bono services to LGBTQ+ individuals seeking asylum, an effort facilitated through a long-standing partnership with Immigration Equality. In one matter, a team of Kelley Drye attorneys across offices collaborated to successfully obtain asylum for a transgender client from El Salvador nearly a decade after her initial appearance before the Immigration Court.

Despite having suffered lifelong persecution in her home country for identifying as transgender and fearing greatly for her safety, the client was initially denied asylum by an Immigration Judge prior to Kelley Drye’s representation. Kelley Drye represented her on appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals, arguing that the court had not fulling considered the client’s gender identity and imputed sexual orientation. The effort was successful, and the case was remanded to an Immigration Court. Kelley Drye attorneys worked tirelessly to prepare for the merits hearing that, due to a long series of delays, finally took place nearly 10 years after her initial asylum hearing.

The Judge found in our client’s favor that she was in fact eligible for asylum on the basis of a credible fear of persecution. The team’s unceasing dedication to the client over the course of this long-standing case demonstrates the immense commitment of Kelley Drye attorneys to advocate on behalf of members of the LGBTQ+ community.

In 2024, Kelley Drye received Immigration Equality’s 2024 Safe Haven Award for pro bono work on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people seeking political asylum in the United States.

In 2023, the Virginia legislature amended its assisted conception statute to ensure equal treatment for married same-sex couples who conceive through assisted conception. Previously, the law stated that a husband of a woman who gave birth to a child conceived through assisted conception would automatically be treated as the child’s father, but did not extend similar protections to the wife of a woman who gave birth through assisted conception. The bill known as Virginia HB 1979 replaces the gender-specific terms ​“husband” and ​“wife” with the gender-neutral ​“spouse,” thereby ensuring that same-sex couples who conceive and have children through assisted conception will be extended the same rights as heterosexual couples.

This change is due in part to the advocacy of a Kelley Drye team including special counsel Melissa Byroade, who instituted a lawsuit in 2019 in the Eastern District of Virginia against the governor and several other state officials on behalf of their clients, a Virginia same-sex married couple. The clients were expecting a baby girl through assisted conception and sought Kelley Drye’s help in protecting their parental rights.

The defendants moved to dismiss the case on 11th Amendment immunity and standing grounds, even though they did not dispute that the statute was unconstitutional. The Court, while sympathetic, had concerns about immunity and standing. So the Kelley Drye team got creative. The team approached state legislators who they found were already considering changes to the statutory language. Through efforts that included testifying and telling our clients’ story before the Virginia House of Delegates, the Kelley Drye team was able to help shape the statutory language and help get the bill signed into law. The clients were elated with the result, which benefits the larger community by providing meaningful equal protection under Virginia law for same-sex couples using assisted conception that they did not have before this lawsuit was brought.