Julie H. Wilensky

Director of the California office of the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, Wilensky is at the forefront of a somewhat shifting terrain in civil rights litigation from the rights of same-sex couples to transgender people.

The lawyer has won recent victories for clients who sued under the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision U.S. v. Windsor, which declared unconstitutional the Defense of Marriage Act that prohibited same-sex marriage and its attendant legal benefits.

For example, she helped to settle in March a lawsuit on behalf of Robert Pritchard, a gay widower of a telecommunications engineer, who filed suit against the International Union of Operating Engineers. The union denied Pritchard benefits even though he satisfied the pension plan's definition of spouse, "a person to whom the participant is legally married."

Wilensky said that the case has resolved, and Pritchard is now enjoying a lifetime monthly annuity. Pritchard v. IUOE Stationary Engineers Pension Plan. CV16-355 (N.D. Cal., filed Jan. 22, 2016)

Wilensky said there are ongoing cases in which "employees are bringing sex discrimination claims against companies that provide health benefits to different-sex spouses but not to same-sex spouses" but these disputes are comparatively winding down.

"While issues involving recognition of same-sex marriages will eventually resolve, employment discrimination remains a huge problem for LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] people," Wilensky said. "This is especially the case for those who are transgender or gender non-conforming, who experience high rates of harassment or mistreatment at work."

Wilensky said recent decisions, such as the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals holding federal law lets transgender people use sex-segregated bathroom facilities consistent with their gender identity, may forecast the future of legal civil rights work.

"One area that I'm working on is challenging employer health plans that categorically deny medically necessary care to transgender employees," she noted.

- Matthew Blake