The 2020 Stonewall Award Recipients

The Stonewall Award recognizes lawyers, members of the judiciary and legal academia who have effected real change to remove barriers on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the legal profession, the world, state, state/or locale and championed diversity for the LGBT community.

Slideshow of 2020 Stonewall Award Reception

View slideshow featuring Stonewall Award recipients, and the SOGI Commission's gracious donors. 

BIOGRAPHIES

JAMES HOLMES
Senior Equity Partner at Clyde & Co US LLP in Los Angeles 

Jim Holmes is Senior Equity Partner at Clyde and Co, as well as a current member of the American Bar Association's Board of Governors.  While he effectively fights for his clients, he makes it a point to always maintain a spirit of civility and humor. In addition to legal honors, Jim has received awards for his exceptional commitment to community and public service work. He uses his considerable talents and skills to benefit individuals from all walks of life through his pro bono activities. Jim is a long-time and fearless advocate for diversity and LGBT rights. He received the first ever Chambers Lifetime Achievement Award for LGBT and Equality, and has served in numerous prominent bar and civic leadership roles. Whether in the courtroom or in the community, Jim is a winning emissary for those he represents.

CARMELYN MALALIS
Chairperson & Commisioner at the Commission on Human Rights in New York 

Carmelyn P. Malalis was appointed Chair and Commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights (the Commission) by Mayor Bill de Blasio in November 2014 following more than a decade in private practice as an advocate for employees' rights in the workplace. Prior to her appointment, Commissioner Malalis was a partner at Outten & Golden LLP where she co-founded and co-chaired its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Workplace Rights Practice Group and its Disability and Family Responsibilities Discrimination Practice Group; and successfully represented employees in negotiations, agency proceedings, and litigation involving claims of sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy, disability, and religion.

CHASE STRANGIO
Staff Attorney for ACLU's LGBT & AIDS Project in New York 

Chase Strangio is Staff Attorney for ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project and a nationally recognized expert on transgender rights. Chase’s work includes impact litigation, as well as legislative and administrative advocacy, on behalf of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV across the United States. Prior to joining the ACLU, Chase was an Equal Justice Works fellow and the Director of Prisoner Justice Initiatives at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, where he represented transgender and gender non-conforming individuals in confinement settings. In 2012, Chase co-founded the Lorena Borjas Community Fund, an organization that provides direct bail/bond assistance to LGBTQ immigrants in criminal and immigration cases.

The SOGI Commission wishes to recognize and thank our donors for their generous and financial contributions and support.  We commend all of our donors efforts to help achieve full and equal participation in the legal profession by persons of differing sexual orientations and gender identities and applaud their committment to diversity and inclusion.

Become a Supporter

Your charitable sponsorship of the Stonewall Awards funds the annual projects and programs implemented by the ABA Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) that advance the policy, advocacy, and diversity initiatives for LGBT members of the legal profession and the greater LGBT Community.

Find out about sponsorship opportunities here.