The Beginning of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Bar Association
In January of 1992, the Dallas Bar Association held a candle-light vigil at the Belo Mansion in honor of Martin Luther King's birthday. It was the first year Dr. King' birthday was recognized as a state holiday in Texas and the creation of the holiday had been greeted with mixed emotions in Dallas. Lee Taft, a personal injury attorney, organized the vigil as a visible show or solidarity with the ideals Dr. King embodied. At the time, Ed Ishmael was a young lawyer with Baker & McKenzie, LLP which officed across the street from the Belo. With the sun setting, Ed joined the small group of lawyers holding candles on the front steps of the mansion as downtown Dallas hustled on its way home for the evening. It was a relatively small event, as vigils go, no more than 15 people attending, but before the evening ended, Lee asked Ed to lunch. It was at that lunch, again at the Belo, that the topic of a gay and lesbian bar association was first discussed. Both men thought it was a great idea and long overdue. So they sat out to establish the Gay and Lesbian Section of the Dallas Bar Association. At that time, several of the gay and lesbian attorneys in Dallas were infrequently meeting in private homes as part of a group called The Stonewall Legal Society. The idea was to formalize the group's existence and eventually gain a voice in the legal community for issues affecting gay, Lesbian, bisexual and trangendered attorneys and their clients.
As Lee Taft recalls, "It was our intention to see that the phrase 'gay and lesbian' became a part of the vernacular at the DBA." Lee made calls to his contacts at the bar association and found out, quite quickly, that the Dallas Bar Association was not quite ready for a full-fledged Gay and Lesbian Section. In fact, the bar association emphasized the hurdles to creating a section, but Lee and Ed were confident the gay and lesbian lawyers in town would eagerly sign on. The group had the support of several prominent public figures yet, unfortunately, meeting the requirements for an actual bar association section proved more difficult than first hoped, so instead, Ed and Lee decided that their best option was to create the Gay and Lesbian Study Group. As a study group, they could meet at the Belo Mansion and have the groups' name appear in the monthly announcements of the Bar Association's "Headnotes." "I still remember the pride I felt when I opened the Headnotes that first month and saw us listed in the calendar along with the Banking Section and the Litigation Section," Ed remembers. "I wondered if there would be a backlash, but we only heard of a few complaints." The first meeting packed the room at the Belo with over 20 attendees and the Gay and Lesbian Study Group was born.
In January of 1992, the Dallas Bar Association held a candle-light vigil at the Belo Mansion in honor of Martin Luther King's birthday. It was the first year Dr. King' birthday was recognized as a state holiday in Texas and the creation of the holiday had been greeted with mixed emotions in Dallas. Lee Taft, a personal injury attorney, organized the vigil as a visible show or solidarity with the ideals Dr. King embodied. At the time, Ed Ishmael was a young lawyer with Baker & McKenzie, LLP which officed across the street from the Belo. With the sun setting, Ed joined the small group of lawyers holding candles on the front steps of the mansion as downtown Dallas hustled on its way home for the evening. It was a relatively small event, as vigils go, no more than 15 people attending, but before the evening ended, Lee asked Ed to lunch. It was at that lunch, again at the Belo, that the topic of a gay and lesbian bar association was first discussed. Both men thought it was a great idea and long overdue. So they sat out to establish the Gay and Lesbian Section of the Dallas Bar Association. At that time, several of the gay and lesbian attorneys in Dallas were infrequently meeting in private homes as part of a group called The Stonewall Legal Society. The idea was to formalize the group's existence and eventually gain a voice in the legal community for issues affecting gay, Lesbian, bisexual and trangendered attorneys and their clients.
As Lee Taft recalls, "It was our intention to see that the phrase 'gay and lesbian' became a part of the vernacular at the DBA." Lee made calls to his contacts at the bar association and found out, quite quickly, that the Dallas Bar Association was not quite ready for a full-fledged Gay and Lesbian Section. In fact, the bar association emphasized the hurdles to creating a section, but Lee and Ed were confident the gay and lesbian lawyers in town would eagerly sign on. The group had the support of several prominent public figures yet, unfortunately, meeting the requirements for an actual bar association section proved more difficult than first hoped, so instead, Ed and Lee decided that their best option was to create the Gay and Lesbian Study Group. As a study group, they could meet at the Belo Mansion and have the groups' name appear in the monthly announcements of the Bar Association's "Headnotes." "I still remember the pride I felt when I opened the Headnotes that first month and saw us listed in the calendar along with the Banking Section and the Litigation Section," Ed remembers. "I wondered if there would be a backlash, but we only heard of a few complaints." The first meeting packed the room at the Belo with over 20 attendees and the Gay and Lesbian Study Group was born.
