CHICAGO, Oct. 24, 2024 — The American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity will honor Kristen Galles, founder of public interest law firm Equity Legal, with its Stonewall Award during a ceremony from 5-7:30 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2025, at the ABA Midyear Meeting in at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona
Named after the New York City Stonewall Inn police raid and riot of June 28, 1969, which was a turning point in the gay rights movement, the award recognizes lawyers who have advanced lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the legal profession and successfully championed LGBT legal causes.
Since 1996, Galles has represented students in Title IX equal protection or gender equity and sexual harassment cases against school and state athletic associations. She has litigated and supported groundbreaking cases and efforts for equity throughout her career. From influencing Title IX case precedent to arguing or writing briefs on Title IX, Galles is now a mentor for other lawyers on their Title IX cases.
Galles was an adjunct professor of law at George Washington University Law School, where she taught first-year law students on topics ranging from constitutional law to Title IX. The founder of Title IX Roundtable, she meets with people to discuss ongoing efforts related to Title IX, including policy, education and litigation.
Having served in varying roles in the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice and the Labor and Employment, Litigation and Business Law sections, Galles has worked on legal issues that relate to women, LGBT+, and Title IX amicus briefs. She also developed and conducted Title IX continuing legal education programs and assisted with developing and promoting ABA policy. Most notably, she co-wrote the ABA’s Supreme Court amicus brief in Jackson vs. Birmingham, Alabama Board of Education and wrote the ABA’s official commentary on the final report issued by the U.S. Department of Education’s 2002-2003 Title IX Commission.
From 2013-2019, Galles served as a commissioner and liaison to the ABA Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. She led an effort to amend the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct to include nondiscrimination provision Rule 8.4(g).
Galles has a B.A. from Creighton University and J.D. from Washington University School of Law.
The ABA Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity leads the ABA’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and full and equal participation by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the ABA, the legal profession and society. Created in 2007, the commission seeks to secure equal treatment in the ABA, the legal profession and the justice system without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity.
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