About the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia
The Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia (“SBA”) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 to serve Georgia’s gay and the legal communities.
SBA was created to develop a coalition of legal workers who could their professional expertise to support the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and who oppose discrimination based on sexual or gender orientation. SBA’s membership includes people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, as well as their straight allies. SBA also develops programming and networking opportunities for LGBTQ+ law students at the law schools across the State. In 2022, SBA remains one of the most active bar associations in Georgia despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic.
SBA provides regular opportunities for its members to socialize and network. Members share knowledge, contacts, clients, and job opportunities, and attendance is an excellent way for attorneys to build their contact bases. Law students are also able to attend SBA events, who often find mentors and discover job opportunities.
Additionally, SBA provides educational opportunities on the legal issues impacting the members of our community. Past topics include accomplishing legal name changes in Georgia’s courts, estate planning strategies for gay and lesbian couples, and issues related to family and criminal law.
SBA’s attorneys have also worked in coalition with other organizations, such as the ACLU and Lambda Legal, to file amicus briefs in cases that impact our community in Georgia. Briefs have been submitted in cases including ones that overturned Georgia’s sodomy law and secured the rights of local governments and private corporations to offer domestic partnership benefits to company employees and their life partners.
Another goal of the organization is to foster and maintain positive relationships with Judges, and to gently educate Georgia’s judicial officers on issues that are important to our community. Since its founding, SBA has been successful in developing relationships with state and federal Judges in the metro-Atlanta area. Each year, several Judges attend SBA’s Annual Awards Dinner in October, and some report that it is their favorite function hosted by any bar association throughout the year.
As a service to its members and the community at large, SBA publishes an online directory of attorneys who practice in various areas of the law and who are willing to serve the unique needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clients.