National
Chicago firm to defend Exxon Mobil against charges of anti-gay bias
Seyfarth Shaw has pro-LGBT reputation and perfect HRC score

Seyfarth Shaw is representing Exxon Mobil in a lawsuit alleging anti-gay bias against the company. (Photo of Exxon sign by Ildar Sagdejev, photo of Mobil sign by Terence Ong; courtesy Wikimedia Commons).
A Chicago-based law firm known as Seyfarth Shaw is representing oil-and-gas giant Exxon Mobil against charges of alleged anti-gay bias in hiring practices, according to the LGBT group Freedom to Work.
Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work, told the Washington Blade on Thursday night the Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw elected this month to represent Exxon Mobil in the lawsuit, which was filed by his organization and is pending before the Illinois Department of Human Rights.
“I believe that even the most disgusting criminals should have access to counsel when they violate the law, and Exxon’s shareholders will now pay big bucks for Seyfarth’s lawyers, who are probably some of the most expensive corporate defense lawyers in the country,” Almeida said. “But I don’t think there’s any need for Seyfarth to run up their billable hours since Freedom to Work would like to settle the case today.”
Seyfarth Shaw is a massive international law firm and employs more than 800 attorneys throughout the world. It bills itself on its website as “a national platform and an international gateway” that helps businesses in litigation, employment, corporate, real estate and employee benefits.
Freedom to Work filed the lawsuit against Exxon Mobil in May after conducting a test in which it sent two fictitious resumes for a job opening at the company in Illinois. One was from a more qualified applicant who outed herself as LGBT on her resume; the other was a less qualified applicant who gave no indications about her sexual orientation or gender identity. The less qualified non-LGBT applicant received multiple callbacks, the more qualified LGBT applicant received nothing.
The organization filed a complaint against the company on the basis that it had violated Illinois state law, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Legal precedent within Illinois and the U.S. Supreme Court allows for paired-resume testing as a basis to file an employment discrimination lawsuit against a company.
Almeida said that Exxon Mobil could settle the case by adopting a policy prohibiting discrimination against LGBT workers.
“In fact, one settlement option would be for Exxon to copy and paste Seyfarth’s own LGBT workplace policies, which have previously earned the lawfirm a 100 percent LGBT rating from the HRC,” Almeida said. “Exxon could also copy and paste the Chevron LGBT workplace policy, and we would accept that as part of the settlement.”
The Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw didn’t respond to multiple requests this week to confirm that it has decided to represent Exxon Mobil or explain why it has decided to represent the company.
William Holbrook, an Exxon Mobil spokesperson, had no comment on whether his company selected Seyfarth Shaw to defend it against the Freedom to Work lawsuit.
Mike Coffey, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Human Resources, wouldn’t confirm that Seyfarth Shaw is participating in the lawsuit, but affirmed the case is under investigation.
Seyfarth Shaw is known for adopting pro-LGBT policies. It has a 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. In addition to having an LGBT non-discrimination policy, the law firm offers same-sex partner benefits, transgender health coverage and was among the companies that signed a legal brief before the U.S. Supreme Court against the Defense of Marriage Act.
In a statement from 2011, Seyfarth Shaw Chair J. Stephen Poor touted receiving a perfect score on the HRC report for the fourth consecutive year.
“We are proud to earn this recognition and to have maintained the perfect score for the fourth year in a row, demonstrating that we don’t just ‘talk the talk,'” Poor said at the time. “We know that diversity is important to clients, and it’s equally important to us.”
Michael Cole-Schwartz, a Human Rights Campaign spokesperson, said his organization would dock a hypothetical law firm for representing Exxon Mobil in a case alleging anti-gay bias at the company.
“Yes, we would and have done so in the past,” Cole-Schwartz said. “The firm Foley & Lardner was docked 15 points previously for their work representing organizations trying to stop marriage equality (engagements which have since ended and they are no longer docked), although it should be noted the firm has also had a long history of pro bono support for LGBT causes.”
Starting with the 2012 report, Cole-Schwartz said HRC raised the possible point deduction from -15 to -25. One of the criteria on which companies are judged in the report is “responsible citizenship” or having “no known activity that would undermine LGBT equality.”
Informed by the Washington Blade that Seyfarth Shaw was the law firm defending Exxon Mobil, Cole-Schwartz said the situation is currently under evaluation. HRC has previously praised Freedom to Work’s lawsuit against the company.
“We’re still in the process of collecting data from companies for this year’s CEI ratings and taking a look at the lawsuit and how it might play a role in a score,” Cole-Schwartz said. “We will make a determination once we have all the information.”
Almeida is set to speak on a panel with Jeffrey Wortman, an attorney from the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw on Friday at the annual Lavender Law Conference, which this year is taking place in San Francisco. The panel is titled, “We Have An Anti-Discrimination Law! Now What?” and will address ways to enforce state non-discrimination laws through the country.
“I’m looking forward to presenting the Exxon case at this weekend’s Lavendar Law panel, and it will be interesting to see if Seyfarth’s representative on the panel will publicly defend Exxon’s anti-gay policies,” Almeida said.
Also of note, one of the attorneys at Seyfarth Shaw, Camille Olson, testified in 2009 before the House and Senate on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. She argued neither for or against the legislation, but said it should be changed for greater clarity, such as in the area of disparate impact on the issue of whether Title VII and ENDA will provide duplicate causes of action. Many changes along the lines of her recommendations were adopted in subsequent versions of the legislation.
Almeida, who’s also among the chief advocates for passage of ENDA, said he remains hopeful Exxon Mobil and Seyfarth Shaw come to embrace LGBT employment non-discrimination polices and advocacy.
“One day when historians write the accounts of ENDA and Exxon, it will be interesting to see whether the lawyers at Seyfarth are considered among the good guys or the bad guys,” Almeida said. “I think that the jury is still out. I hope both Seyfarth and Exxon do the right thing and take the side of basic workplace protections for LGBT Americans.”
UPDATE: This article has been update to include an additional comment from HRC’s Michael Cole-Schwartz.
National
Baldwin, Pocan named on alleged Minn. shooter’s target lists
Suspected gunman was taken into custody Sunday

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, Democrats of Wisconsin, were named on lists of targets belonging to the man suspected of killing Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband and of injuring Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.
The Hoffmans sustained multiple gunshot wounds and are reportedly in serious but stable condition.
Vance Boelter, the suspect, was apprehended on Sunday in connection with the shootings, which occurred on Saturday. He faces federal murder and stalking charges as well as state-level murder and attempted murder charges.
“Senator Baldwin was informed by law enforcement that she was included on the alleged shooter’s list of names,” Baldwin’s Communications Director Eli Rosen told Channel3000.com. “She is grateful for law enforcement’s swift action to keep the community safe and remains focused on the things that matter most here: honoring the legacy and life of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, praying for the other victims who are fighting for their lives, and condemning this abhorrent, senseless political violence.”
“I recently heard that my name was in one of the Minnesota shooting suspect’s notebooks and I’m appreciative that law enforcement apprehended the suspect,” Pocan said in a statement to Channel3000.com. “I will not back down in the face of terror, however, we as elected officials, must do better to lower the temperature. That said, my schedule remains unchanged.”
The news outlet reported on Monday that Baldwin’s name appeared on a list of 70 targets, while Pocan’s name was found on additional documents. The senator and congressman are both openly LGBTQ.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Greg Landsman (Ohio), Hillary Schotlen (Mich.), Veronica Escobar (Texas), and Joaquin Castro (Texas) also confirmed that their names appeared in notebooks recovered from Boelter’s vehicle.
Other Democrats who were reportedly targeted but whose offices have not yet provided confirmation as of Tuesday afternoon include LGBTQ congresswoman Angie Craig, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, and Attorney General Keith Ellison, all from Minnesota, along with U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski of Illinois, and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.
Walz called the shootings a “politically motivated assassination.”
Federal Government
Trump anti-trans EO used to deny health care to Democrats, unmarried vets
Veterans warn impacts will be felt disproportionately by women and LGBTQ people.

New rules would allow doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to deny care to unmarried veterans and Democrats at hospitals across the country, pursuant to President Donald Trump’s anti-trans executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
According to the Guardian, which was first to report the hospital guidelines on Monday, they apply also to psychologists, dentists, and other providers — allowing for individual staff to refuse care for veterans on the basis of characteristics not covered under federal law, which proscribes discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, and sex.
Doctors can also be barred from working on VA hospitals based on their marital status, political party affiliation or union activity, per documents reviewed by the Guardian. The agency confirmed changes to the rules came in response to Trump’s executive order.
Specifically, per the paper:
Until the recent changes, VA hospitals’ bylaws said that medical staff could not discriminate against patients “on the basis of race, age, color, sex, religion, national origin, politics, marital status or disability in any employment matter”. Now, several of those items — including “national origin,” “politics” and “marital status” — have been removed from that list.
Similarly, the bylaw on “decisions regarding medical staff membership” no longer forbids VA hospitals from discriminating against candidates for staff positions based on national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, membership in a labor organization or “lawful political party affiliation.”
Experts warn that changes to the guidelines may lead to situations where, for example, doctors may question patients about whether they attended a rally for a political candidate or in support of gay rights, potentially denying care on those bases or because of the reasons given for seeking care, such as cases where the patient may report a rape or sexual assault.
Veterans warn impacts will be felt disproportionately by women and LGBTQ people.
National
New LGBTQ+ Archive to save scrubbed federal resources
Trump’s anti-DEI crusade seeks to erase entire communities

Generally, when someone says, “The internet is forever,” it is not a positive statement.
But for Shae Gardner, policy director at LGBT Tech, it has become a lifeline as she and her team have spent the last couple of months tracking down documents removed from government websites.
After a series of anti-DEI and LGBTQ executive orders, thousands of pages across the federal government have been removed or altered—with LGBTQ topics taking a big hit.
The LGBTQ+ Archive, launched by LGBT Tech last month, aims to restore lost resources about the LGBTQ community into a centralized hub. They have tracked down approximately 1,000 documents—all available as downloadable PDFs and sorted by agency—but know that more are missing. Users can submit missing documents or requests for missing documents.
Archived resources range from the 2023 Equity Action Plans mandated under Biden to HIV resource sheets.
Sid Gazula, LGBT Tech’s Google Policy Fellow said reviewing the documents scrubbed from the Department of Health and Human Services was striking. “You have these important documents related to people’s health. Health isn’t subjective,” he said, “The fact that an executive order could take away all this information was very eye-opening.”
For Gazula it made an already urgent project more urgent. “We, as a community, need access to these resources,” he said, “The archive presents a mechanism to get that access out there.”
The LGBT community has a long history of engaging in archival work, explained K.J. Rawson, professor at Northeastern University and director of the Digital Transgender Archive, in an email. He described archives as “key avenues for preserving and making accessible queer and trans history.”
Since mainstream archives often erase or misrepresent the LGBTQ community, Rawson pointed out that LGBTQ archives “fight against this trend and wrest control back into LGBTQ+ hands,” citing Cait McKinney’s phrase “information activism.”
Gardner feels appreciative of the history of LGBTQ preservation, which guided their work: “I want to make it abundantly clear that we are not the first or only organization doing this sort of preservation work.” She also mentions the Internet Archive, a non-profit library of web pages, which was invaluable during their research.
When the Blade asked about the LGBT Archive, Rawson described it as “crucial!” He elaborated that, “the overt erasure of LGBTQ+ people––but especially trans people––from federal websites has been a hostile move that’s one part of larger efforts to strip us of our humanity and our history.”
Beyond creating a record for the future, the archive is also useful in fighting for LGBTQ representation today. Gardner explained that numerous journalists and advocacy groups have already been using it. Gazula, who is a student, shared that some of their professors said it was an important resource for academic work.
To access it, users have to create an account. Gardner said this is not for marketing. Instead, they want to “put a stop gap between us and malicious actors and attacks on the site” and have a basic understanding of who is using the site. She assures users that the data is backed up on servers globally, but encourages folks to download freely from the archive.
“We decided that we wanted every document and resource on it to be a PDF that they would be able to save it themselves,” said Gardner, “This is not only meant to be very user-friendly, but is also meant to help with those resources being dispersed and being kept.”
“It is the history of our community,” Gardner continued, “we deserve to have continued access to it.”
-
District of Columbia5 days ago
Drag queens protest Trump at the Kennedy Center
-
Congress5 days ago
Padilla forcibly removed from federal building for questioning DHS secretary
-
Sponsored5 days ago
Pride and Progress: Supporting LGBTQ+ Communities in Quitting
-
Israel4 days ago
Tel Aviv Pride parade cancelled after Israel attacks Iran