A message from Christy Mallory, Interim Executive Director & Legal Director

Dear Friend,

As we approach the end of 2024, I want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude for your commitment to the Williams Institute and our work. You have shown up for us in countless ways over the past 23 years. With every Williams Institute study you’ve read, event you’ve attended, and post you’ve shared, you have woven a thread in the Institute’s fabric. I am honored to step into the role of Interim Executive Director and to continue to weave our future with you.

I also want to assure you that we are committed to you, your families, and your communities. 2025 will not be easy. But we’ve been here before, and we don’t stop when things aren’t easy. In these moments, we step up. Between 2017 and 2020, we filed dozens of public comments with federal agencies resisting the rollback of LGBTQ data collection and marshaling social science research to support the inclusion of LGBTQ people in federal policy. Our research also informed progress at the federal, state, and local levels. Our work was cited in the Equality Act in 2019, the first year the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill, and was relied on by several states as they outlawed conversion therapy, repealed or modernized HIV criminalization laws, and banned the gay and trans panic defense. Of course, our impact did not stop there.

This coming year will be no different. Our research and expertise will continue to inform state and local laws that prohibit discrimination, protect LGBTQ youth, strengthen protections from hate crimes, and more. We will continue to file amicus briefs and public comments that describe the impacts of anti-LGBTQ policies, including policies that exclude transgender people from the military, shared facilities, schools, and other spaces; restrict access to health care; and limit the benefits of marriage for same-sex couples. We will also work to ensure that LGBTQ data is collected, respected, and protected.
  
While we may face setbacks, what I can promise is this: Our incredible Institute staff—together with our partners, friends, supporters, and allies—will continue to make a difference with research that matters. 

We couldn't do any of it without you. As we reach the end of the year, I hope you will consider supporting our mission. Together, we can make a difference. 

With deep appreciation and hope for the future,
Christy

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law is an academic research institute dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.