QLaw: the GLBT Bar Association of Washington

QLaw Foundation

2012 Summer Public Interest Grantees

Chelsey Heindel, UW School of Law, Snohomish County Public Defenders

Chelsey has an impressive history of dedication to GLBTQ individuals and persons living with HIV/AIDS who are in the criminal justice system. She started a GSA during high school. As an undergraduate at UW, she volunteered at a youth shelter that provided housing, legal services, and a needle exchange program for homeless youth. As a law student, Chelsey is collaborating with Outlaws to develop workshops on survival crimes that frequently attach to indigent queers, such as sleeping outside and loitering.

Chelsey will spend her summer at the Snohomish County Public Defender Association on a project designed to help the PDA better understand the needs and background of GLBT defendants and those living with HIV/AIDS. She will work directly with clients, gather resources, and do research best practices for working with GLBT defendants

Darcy Kues, UW School of Law, Center for HIV Law & Policy, NYC

Darcy has a strong commitment to advancing the areas of sexual health education and GLBT rights. During her undergraduate education in Texas, Darcy conducted a sexual health survey among university students and designed a sexual health peer education workshop. Darcy first became active in GLBT rights as a field intern with Equality Texas, for which she implemented education programs to help Texans learn about GLBT policy issues.

Darcy will spend her summer working at the Center for HIV Law & Policy contributing to the collection of legal and scientific resources concerning people living with HIV/AIDS. Darcy will also work on Teen SENSE, a multi-year project addressing the legal rights of youth in foster care and detention facilities to comprehensive, GLBT-inclusive sexual health programs.

T. Perry McCall, Villanova University School of Law, Lambda Legal, NYC

Perry is a second-year at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Perry will spend his summer working with Lambda Legal on impact litigation cases. Perry spent his 1L summer working with the Mazzoni Center, a direct services nonprofit organization that represents low-income GLBT clients. He continued this work into his second year of law school, authoring a proposal for a law school course on GLBT legal issues. The school accepted Perry’s proposal, and Perry is assisting the professor who will teach the course next year.

The Summer Public Interest Grant Program funds innovative public interest projects that benefit the GLBT community and/or people living with HIV/AIDS. The program helps ensure unmet legal needs are recognized and prioritized on an on-going basis and that the next generation of legal advocates for GLBT rights develops the skills necessary to develop careers in the public interest.

For more information about the QLaw Foundation Public Interest Grant or the Summer Grant fundraiser held each fall, our fabulous FallTacular party, please contact us atsummergrant@q-law.org.

Home Site Map Committees Contact Us