[image credit: Benson Kua CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

Hello everyone! Thank you for subscribing to the newsletter for Diana Adams Law & Mediation, PLLC. This monthly newsletter keeps you informed about the legal and activism work we are doing to support LGBTQI, polyamorous, and other nontraditional families.

We’ve got a lot for you in this month’s newsletter to get your summer off to a great start - read below!

In this month’s newsletter:

• Book Us Now to Speak at Your Pride Month Events!

• June Discount on Wills and Estate Planning! Offer ends June 15!

• Congratulations to Andy on Winning the “Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40” Award!

• Contact NY legislators now on Child-Parent Security Act! Progress Update!

• Book An Appointment Now with Diana In New York in July!

• Blog March post by Diana: “Avoid Burnout in the Resistance: Prepare for this Marathon”

Diana and Andy are not only practicing lawyers, but thought leaders on LGBTQ issues and popular keynote speakers. Andy and Diana both enjoy giving presentations and teaching classes about LGBTQ family law, non-traditional family issues, conflict de-escalation and consent, sexual assault prevention and Title IX issues, and LGBTQ cultural competency. Contact us if you’d like Diana or Andy to speak to your organization, institution, business, or social group about LGBTQ legal issues affecting our communities during Pride Month celebrations, or any time!

In our last newsletter we promoted an offer for discounted Will and estate planning documents, available through June 15. If you sign up between now and June 15, we will offer you a flat fee discount on a basic Will, and estate and Advance Directive documents for $1,000 per individual, $1,500 for a couple, and $1,800 for a triad. These prices are 60% off our usual fee!

Please visit our website for more information: Protect Your Family with Will and Estate Documents

The National LGBT Bar Association, selected our Associate Attorney Andy Izenson as one of the Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 – Class of 2017! The LGBT Bar established this award to recognize outstanding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender legal professionals under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves in their field and demonstrated a profound commitment to LGBT equality. We are so proud of Andy!

Diana won the same award several years ago, and we’re delighted that both of our firm’s attorneys have received this special recognition.

The Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 - Class of 2017 will be recognized at a special awards luncheon on Thursday, August 3, 2017 in conjunction with the 2017 Lavender Law Conference and Career Fair in San Francisco.

As mentioned in our last two newsletters, our firm has been watching a piece of legislation slowly move through the New York state legislature. This bill, the Child-Parent Security Act, would, if passed, make an enormous difference in our practice and in the lives of the families we serve who are LGBTQ parents or parents utilizing assisted reproductive technology including surrogacy. The Bill finally made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and will go up for vote in the Senate! We need a groundswell of support to pass this bill!

You can read more about the bill here: CPSA, Assembly Bill A06959.  We urge you to contact your representatives and ask them to support the CPSA in order to make “Order of Parentage” available as a legal tool for New York families, as it is in other states, so that same-sex couple parents don’t need to go through the lengthy and expensive second-parent adoption process.  

1. Find your Senator here, and call or email to a) ask your Senator to become a co-sponsor of the Child-Parent Security Act (A.6959A) and b) speak to Judiciary Chair Bonacic about putting the bill on the agenda for a vote.

2. Find your Assemblymembers here, and call or email to a) ask them to become a co-sponsor of the Child-Parent Security Act (A.6959A) and b) ask them to speak to Judiciary Chair Weinstein about putting the bill on the agenda for a vote.

Here’s additional information we have received as to additional representatives people should reach out to regarding CPSA and the Fair Access to Fertility Act.

• Senate Majority Leader Flanagan, (518) 455-2051: Please pass Senate bills 3148, the Fair Access to Fertility Treatment Act, and 17A, the Child-Parent Security Act.
• Assembly Speaker Heastie, (518) 455-3791: Please pass Assembly bills 2646, the Fair Access to Fertility Treatment Act, and 6959, the Child-Parent Security Act.
• Assembly Majority Leader Morelle, (518) 455-5373: Please pass Assembly bills 2646, the Fair Access to Fertility Treatment Act, and 6959, the Child-Parent Security Act.

If you can call the legislators you know before Wednesday, June 7, that would be ideal.  Thank you!

Diana will be in New York City July 4th - 31st.  If you’d like to schedule a time to meet with Diana in person while she is in New York this summer, please contact us!

Diana travels between New York City and Frankfurt, Germany, managing our European and NY offices, and is available to clients in both regions, with frequent touring of the U.S. and Europe in between. Diana welcomes opportunities to meet with clients and to teach along her travels.  Please contact us if you’d like to schedule time to meet with Diana for a consultation while she is in your city or inquire about a speaking engagement.

• June 22-25, 2017:  Kinnernet Europe Imagination Festival Unconference in Avallon, France

• July 4-31, 2017: NYC

• August 1-7, 2017: San Francisco for LGBT Bar’s Lavender Law conference

• August 26-31, 2017:  Berlin, Germany

• September 9-13, 2017:  Valencia, Spain

• September 18-October 5, 2017: NYC

• October 6-8, 2017: Diana teaches at Omega Institute’s Women & Power conference

• October 9-13, 2017: Albany, NY region

Andy is in our office in New York City and available to clients there unless indicated below.

• June 26, 2017: Name Change CLE Training at Blank Rome, LLP in NYC.  Visit the website or contact us for details.

• June 27, 2017: Polyamory and Gender discussion group with Open Love NY.  Open to the public.

• August 1-7, 2017: San Francisco for LGBT Bar’s Lavender Law conference

Diana participated in Blog March, a “march” of online activism featuring a writer for each day of May. Her post discusses managing your mental health, creating a supportive social network, and focusing and managing your time for greatest impact.

"We’re just over 100 days into the Trump administration, and every day brings new reason to take action, with each new disastrous policy or appointment proposed. It’s easy to either experience overwhelm and disengage, or work too much until your mental health suffers and you burn out. If you care about civil rights, our environment, or the health of our democracy, we need your participation in the resistance. We can’t afford for you to burnout or sit in despair..."

Read the full post here: Avoid Burnout in the Resistance: Prepare for this Marathon