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Comings & Goings
Verona tapped by Univ. of Miami; honors for Feldblum
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: [email protected].
Congratulations to Tony Varona named the new dean of the University of the Miami School of Law. He is the first ever openly gay and Latinx dean at Miami Law. Upon being informed of his appointment he said, “I am deeply honored to have been selected as the next dean of Miami Law, and exhilarated by the law school’s many strengths and opportunities.”
Varona is currently a professor of law at Washington College of Law. He worked for a number of law firms including Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo PC and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP. He served for many years as general counsel and legal director of the Human Rights
He has written and edited numerous publications, including being co-editor since January 2018 of the Journal of Legal Education, a quarterly peer-edited scholarly publication of the Association of American Law Schools. He was a member of the New York Advisory Board, American Constitution Society; member of the Alliance for Justice board of directors and was founder and chair, Legal Advisory Council, AIDS Action. In addition he has appeared in interviews and debates, or as guest commentator, on various broadcast media, including CNN, Court TV, Fox News Channel, Pacifica Radio, among others.
Varona received his MA A.B., from Boston College, in political science and French; his MA J.D., from Boston College Law School and his LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center, with a focus on civil rights and civil liberties.
Congratulations also to Chai R. Feldblum who has been named the 2019 Spirit of Justice Award winner from GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). Upon announcing the award, Janson Wu, executive director of GLAD said, “Chai combines a brilliant legal mind with a heart and soul dedicated to advancing civil rights. Her work has created the foundation for so many protections that LGBTQ people and those living with HIV count on today. GLAD is thrilled to recognize Chai with the 2019 Spirit of Justice Award.”
Feldblum said, “It’s gratifying and humbling to be honored by an organization whose values are so closely aligned with mine. We need the legal community to defend the values of equality and freedom, and we need cultural support for those values as well. I have admired GLAD for years as it has operated on both of these fronts.”
Feldblum was the first openly gay commissioner on the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She was nominated by President Obama in the fall of 2009 and served until January of this year. She is also a former Georgetown University law professor, an author and an advocate who has dedicated her career to advancing and defending the rights of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV.
In announcing her award, GLAD said, “Her work at the EEOC was critical to fortifying the legal understanding that discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation is discrimination “because of sex,” and that LGBTQ workers are therefore protected under existing federal sex discrimination law. Her achievements while at the EEOC included expanding employment opportunities for people with disabilities and developing methods for preventing workplace harassment.”
Feldblum is currently partner and director of workplace culture consulting at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. She attended Barnard College and Harvard Law School and clerked for Judge Frank Coffin on the First Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Harry Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court.
District of Columbia
Norton reintroduces bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ jurors in D.C. Superior Court
Congresswoman notes Congress controls local court system
D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Friday, June 20, reintroduced her bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ D.C. residents in the process for selecting people to serve as jurors in D.C. Superior Court.
“The bill would clarify that D.C. residents may not be excluded or disqualified from jury service in the local D.C. trial court, the D.C. Superior Court, based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Norton said in a statement.
“Specifically, this bill would clarify that the term ‘sex,’ which is a protected class under the nondiscrimination law that applies to jurors in the D.C. Superior Court includes sexual orientation and gender identity,” Norton said.
She points out in her statement that under the D.C. Home Rule Act approved by Congress that created D.C.’s local government, including an elected mayor and City Council, the federal government retained control over the local court system.
“Therefore, until D.C. is given authority to amend Title 11 of the D.C. Code, which one of my bills would do, an act of Congress is required to clarify that LGBTQ+ jurors in the D.C. Superior Court are protected from discrimination,” according to her statement.
A spokesperson for Norton couldn’t immediately be reached to determine whether Norton is aware of specific instances where residents were denied jury service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Online records of congressional action on Norton’s juror nondiscrimination bill show she had introduced it in 2019, 2021, and 2023, when it died in committee each year, except for the 117th Congress in 2022, when it was approved by a committee but died in the full House.
“During Pride month we are reminded of the many contributions of the LGBTQ+ community,” Norton said in her June 20 statement. “Nobody, including D.C. jurors, should be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and D.C. juries should not be deprived of the service of LGBTQ residents,” she added.
The Washington Blade’s second day of Pride on the Pier at The Wharf DC ended with a fireworks show on Saturday, June 7. The fireworks show was presented by the Leonard-Litz LGBTQ Foundation.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield) will face John Reid in the race to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor.
Hashmi won the Democratic primary with 27.49 percent of the vote. She defeated former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, state Sen. Aaron Rouse (D-Virginia Beach), Babur Lateef, Victor Salgado and Alexander Bastani.
“Tonight, Virginians made history,” said Hashmi in a statement. “We didn’t just win a primary, we sent a clear message that we won’t be bullied, broken, or dragged backward by the chaos in Washington.”
Reid, a gay conservative talk show host, in April won the Republican nomination to succeed Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The incumbent governor days after Reid secured the nomination called for him to withdraw his candidacy amid reports that a social media account with his username included “pornographic content.” Reid, who would become the first openly gay person elected to statewide office in Virginia if he wins in November, has strongly denied the reports.
Former state Del. Jay Jones defeated Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor in Democratic attorney general primary. Jones will face Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in November.
Youngkin cannot run for a second, consecutive term.
Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger will face off against Earle-Sears in November. The winner will make history as the first woman elected governor in the state’s history.
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