Championing our LGBTQ+ attorneys, staff, and community

Externally, our group works to raise the visibility of Tucker Ellis as a place that not just welcomes but champions the LGBTQ+ community. Internally, our group provides a space for mentoring, open discussion, support, and events that address the group’s issues and common interests.

lgbTE participates in and supports various activities throughout the year. Examples of ongoing programming and outreach efforts include event sponsorships, Pride events, public debates, legislative testimony, participation in national and local LGBTQ+ bar associations, and continuing legal education.

Additionally, lgbTE stays on top of the current cases and news affecting the LGBTQ+ community. The following are just some of our members’ contributions to the national conversation on LGBTQ+ issues:

• In April 2023, EDI Leadership Committee co-chair Chad Eggspuehler argued the merits of In re Application for Correction of Birth Record of Hailey Emmeline Adelaide before the Supreme Court of Ohio. Learn more in our news item.

• Brian Brookey, EDI Leadership Committee co-chair Chad Eggspuehler, and lgbTE chair Andrea Glinka Przybysz have coordinated multiple CLE panels on LGBTQ+ legal developments – including the December 2021 panel “Turbulent Times for Trans Rights” and a May 2020 panel on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Title VII decision Bostock v. Clayton County – to address the changing legal landscape, foster greater understanding of the detrimental impact of exclusionary laws, and discuss emerging strategies for a more accepting and inclusive future. The panels have featured guest speakers at the forefront of these developments, including officers from The Trevor Project, ACLU, Equality Federation chapters like Equality Ohio.

• Chad Eggspuehler has also offered legal analysis as a guest panelist with the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and Columbus Bar Association, and Equality Ohio, and also provided legislative testimony in favor of the Ohio Fairness Act. (Watch the Equality Ohio panel discussion of U.S. Supreme Court’s Bostock decision on Equality Ohio’s Facebook page, and read Chad’s testimony.)