Baker Botts' Pride in Action group recognizes that there is an acute access to justice crisis in this country that disproportionately impacts certain communities, including communities of color, immigrant communities, and LGBTQ+ communities, among others. To create a more just world for all, our Pride in Action group represents our firmwide Pro Bono commitment to LGBTQ+ civil rights.

Pride in Action comprises a diverse group of the firm's highly engaged lawyers, paralegals, and administrative staff who have committed thousands of hours to these matters in pursuit of justice and equality for LGBTQ+ people. In addition, the firm also regularly partners with our clients and their in-house counsel teams on issues that affect both human and civil rights of LGBTQ+ populations.

Baker Botts’ recent work has been focused on protecting and expanding the rights of individuals who identify as transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC), including:

• Representing clients in impact litigation cases that seek to protect trans rights and civil liberties
• Representing TGNC clients in immigration courts, federal courts, and before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
• Drafting comments in opposition to proposed federal regulations that would limit access to social benefits, such as asylum protections and shelters
• Assisting with petitions for name and gender marker changes

Click below to review our Team's accomplishments from 2022.

In this work, Pride in Action often partners with non-profit advocacy organizations such as the ACLU, American Gateways, Casa Marianella, Immigration Equality and Lambda Legal. Baker Botts is grateful for the work these groups do for the LGBTQ+ community and for the trust they place in us as a partner.

Our Pride in Action group has been an integral part of the following matters:

• Doe v. Abbott and PFLAG v. Abbott – Challenging actions by the State of Texas to expand the definition of “child abuse” to encompass the provision of medically necessary gender affirming care to TGNC adolescents, and the State’s resulting investigations into the families of TGNC adolescents
• Campos v. Cohen – Challenged North Carolina’s requirement that transgender persons undergo medical surgery prior to correcting the gender marker on their birth certificate
• Gore v. Lee – Challenging the State of Tennessee’s categorical prohibition against all transgender persons from correcting the gender marker on their birth certificate

For more information about Pride in Action, please reach out to the Contacts noted at the top of the page.