Washington Lawyer - July 2017 - 40

the task or the scope of the endeavor - presents
an opportunity for leadership." Arrojo, now working
with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee
on Ethics, served as secretary of the Bar for the
2016-17 term.
Moving forward, Gilliam says the Bar hopes to
expand leadership education for Academy graduates. "We acknowledge that three days of training
will not transform someone into a strong leader.
The Academy provides the tools for building a
framework of effective leadership, but the building
is ongoing." She adds that Academy organizers plan
to also incorporate virtual educational opportunities in the near future.

D.C. BAR 2020
In 2014 the Strategic Planning Committee, led by
former Bar president Kim Keenan, began crafting
D.C. Bar 2020, a list of strategic priorities and objectives to guide the Bar into the next five years.
"If you do not have a plan, then you cannot really
capitalize on the resources of the organization.
A strategic plan allows you to set goals and move
the Bar forward," says Keenan, adding that the plan
features a digital and global perspective that recognizes the need to connect individual Bar members
with the broader legal community.
Keenan has high hopes for the Bar's future. "As we
look toward 2020, I believe the Bar will have a clear
digital imprint that provides options to members
on how to engage with each other and the legal
community at large. We will be able to meet in
state-of-the-art facilities or via virtual options. Our
programming will be cutting edge and span not

just the city but the globe. But regardless of the
methodology, the D.C. Bar will remain true to its
mission of 'Service, Integrity, and Leadership.'"

Davis believes that ongoing national dialogue
about transgender issues is "helping to move the
needle in the right direction."

LGBTQ EQUALITY

For Davis, there are three key issues of importance
to the LGBTQ community. "The first is securing equal
opportunity in employment, housing, and public
accommodations for LGBT persons nationwide. The
second issue requires pushing back against religious
refusal laws - laws insidiously designed not to
protect religious rights, but to chip away at civil rights
laws by permitting anti-LGBT persons and businesses
to use religion as a sword to deny services and
employment to LGBT persons. Lastly, we must work
toward securing equal access to health care and
health insurance for transgender persons."

This decade has brought about significant legal
changes for the LGBTQ community. In 2015 U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy penned
a history-making opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges,
ruling that states may not discriminate on the basis
of sex or gender in the provision of the right to
marry.
Lower courts also considered various state laws
regarding the rights of transgendered people to
utilize bathrooms that correspond with their gender
identity. In April 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Fourth Circuit ruled that a Virginia school district's restriction of a transgender teen's ability to
use the bathroom of his gender identity violated
Title IX.
Don Davis, president of the LGBT Bar Association of
D.C., offers his reflections on some of the significant
LGBTQ legal issues of the past decade, as well as a
look ahead at the remaining challenges.
"While there is still an incredible amount to do to
ensure equality and justice for transgender
Americans, it is significant that the courts have been
almost unified in finding that discrimination against
transgender persons is sex discrimination under
statutes such as Title VII," Davis says. "The U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [in April] also became
the first federal appellate court to rule that Title VII's
prohibition against sex discrimination in employment includes sexual orientation discrimination."

IMMIGRATION
Immigration has been a particularly contentious
issue this decade. Smita Rao Dazzo, an attorney
with the Immigration Legal Services Division
of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of
Washington, says there have been several minor
victories for immigration advocates, including the
Obama administration's Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals program.
"A lot of the Obama administration deportation
priorities became more reasonable, focusing on
criminals and persons with some risk to the safety
of the United States," says Dazzo.
However, not all of the previous administration's
reform efforts were successfully implemented.
In 2016 a Supreme Court tie blocked Obama's
Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and
Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) plan, which

2017
Donald Trump becomes the 45th
president of the United States.
Robert J. Spagnoletti

2016 (continued)
The D.C. Bar breaks ground on its new
home at 901 4th Street NW. D.C. Mayor
Muriel Bowser and members of the
judiciary join Bar leaders in celebrating
the milestone.

40 WASHINGTON LAWYER

* JULY 2017 *

Bar undergoes leadership changes
and appoints Robert J. Spagnoletti as
its new CEO and Rebecca K. Troth as
the executive director of the Pro Bono
Center. Hamilton P. "Phil" Fox III
succeeds Gene E. Shipp as D.C. disciplinary counsel.
Neil Gorsuch is confirmed as the 101st
associate justice of the Supreme
Court.

Robert J. Spagnoletti, Patrice Gilbert Photography; D.C. Bar HQ rendering, Savills Studley;
Darrell G. Mottley, Patrice Gilbert Photography

http://www.dcbar.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Washington Lawyer - July 2017