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Jon W. Davidson
Jon Warren Davidson (born May 7, 1955) is a civil rights attorney based in Los Angeles. He has been a leader in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) movement for more than 25 years. Davidson is best known for his work at Lambda Legal, where he has worked for 17 years and currently serves as Legal Director.

Davidson breadth of knowledge and experience regarding LGBT law is unparalleled. Davidson has been counsel in cases that have won lesbians and gay men the freedom to marry; protected domestic partner benefits against attack; championed the rights of LGBT students; secured asylum for LGBT people persecuted in their home countries; and put an end to HIV-related discrimination in employment, insurance and public accommodations. Davidson also has helped reform antigay practices of the Los Angeles Police Department and was the co-drafter of AB 205, California's comprehensive Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act.

Relationship recognition
California Domestic Partnership: Jon was the co-drafter of AB 205, California's comprehensive Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act.

Knight v. Superior Court (California/2005). Upheld validity of California’s comprehensive domestic partnership law. (Co-counsel for intervenors).

In re Marriage Cases (California/2008). Struck down state ban on marriage for same-sex couples. (Co-counsel for petitioner same-sex couples and LGBT organizations.)

Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health (Connecticut/2008). Struck down state ban on marriage for same-sex couples. (Co-counsel for amicus.)

Strauss v. Horton (California/2009). Challenged California’s Proposition 8, which excludes same-sex couples from marriage. (Co-counsel for petitioners).

Youth & Schools
Henkle v. Gregory (Nevada/2001). Established that students have a First Amendment right to be open about their sexual orientation and to discuss sexual orientation issues at public schools. (Co-counsel for plaintiff.)

East High Gay/Straight Alliance v. Board of Education (Utah/2000). Protected right of LGBT-themed club to meet on high school campus. (Lead counsel for plaintiffs.)

Colin v. Orange Unified School District (California/2000). Won the right of high school students to form a gay-straight alliance and meet on campus. (Co-counsel for plaintiffs.)

Political Asylum
Soto Vega v. Gonzales (California/2006). Reversed denial of asylum to man persecuted in Mexico based on his sexual orientation. (Counsel for applicant.)

Employment
Rene v. MGM Grand Hotel (Nevada/2002). Jon’s friend-of-the-court brief was instrumental in allowing gay employees to pursue claims for sexual harassment under federal employment discrimination law.

Witt v. Dep’t of the Air Force (Washington State/2008). Recognized that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” may violate liberty rights for gay & lesbian servicemembers. (Co-counsel for amicus.)

Pruitt v. Cheney (California/1992). Challenged military's exclusion of lesbians and gay men. (Co-counsel for plaintiff)

Public Accommodation
Koebke v. Bernardo Heights Country Club (California/2005). Concluded that businesses in California cannot deny benefits to registered domestic partners that are provided to spouses. (Counsel for appellants.)

Curran v. Mt. Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America, (California/1998) Challenged Boy Scouts' exclusion of lesbian and gay members. (Lead counsel for plaintiff.)

Warfield v. Peninsula Golf & Country Club (California/1995). Struck down country club's men-only membership policy. (Appellate counsel for plaintiff before California Supreme Court.)

HIV & AIDS
Galanty v. Paul Revere Life Insurance Co. (California/2000) Prohibited insurer from using earlier HIV test results to deny AIDS-related disability insurance claim filed more than two years after issuance of policy. (Co-counsel for plaintiff)

Chalk v. United States District Court (California/1988). Extended protection under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to employees with AIDS. (Co-counsel for plaintiff.)

School Board of Nassau County v. Arline (Florida/1987) First amicus brief on HIV ever submitted to US Supreme court, arguing that AIDS should not be excluded from the scope of federal laws protecting the disabled. (Co-counsel for amicus.)

Career
Davidson earned his AB from Stanford University in three years, graduating in 1976 with degrees in English and Psychology. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1979. From 1979 to 1980, Davidson served as a law clerk to Hon. William Matthew Byrne, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

From 198x to 20xx, Davidson served as has an Adjunct Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law, University of Southern California Law Center, Loyola Law School, where he has taught law classes dealing with sexual orientation and HIV-related issues. In 2005 and 2006, he taught at Whittier Law School's xxx on Sexual Orientation & the Law at the University of Amsterdam. He has also served as an advisory member of the Subcommittee on Sexual Orientation Fairness of the California State Judicial Council's Committee on Access and Fairness and of the Legal Advisory Committee to Los Angeles's HIV and AIDS Legal Services Alliance.

Davidson was head of the Lesbian & Gay Rights Project of the ACLU of Southern California, whose staff he joined in 1988. From 1980 to 1988, Davidson was an associate, and then a partner, at Irell & Manella, one of Los Angeles's leading law firms, where he specialized in litigation involving the media and the entertainment industry.

In 1995, Davidson joined Lambda Legal, the largest and oldest national legal organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV. Working out of Lambda's Western Regional Office in Los Angeles, He served as Managing Attorney from 19xx to 19xx and as Senior Counsel in its Western Regional Office.

In his more than 15 years at Lambda Legal,

Based in the organization’s Western Regional Office, he is responsible for strategically guiding Lambda Legal’s legal work and supervising the organization’s attorneys, Legal Help Desk specialists, and legal assistants in all five of Lambda Legal’s offices.

Awards
In 2010, Davidson was presented with the Dan Bradley Award by the National LGBT Bar Association, the organization’s highest honor.

Personal life
Davidson lives with his domestic partner, Syd Peterson, in Los Angeles.