Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 16:51:33 -0500 From: LLDEFNY@aol.com LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, February 13, 1997 Contact: Peg Byron 212-809-8585, 800-314-5149 pager Thomas B. Stoddard, Civil Rights Advocate and Former Executive Director for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Dies of AIDS (NEW YORK, February 13, 1997) Thomas B. Stoddard died of AIDS on Wednesday, February 12 at his home in Manhattan. He was 48. He was executive director of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund from 1986 to 1992, tackling civil rights work that ranged from fighting AIDS-related discrimination to the military's anti-gay ban. An eloquent and forceful spokesman, Stoddard was one of the earliest proponents of civil marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples. He and his lover Walter Rieman exchanged vows in 1993. Under Stoddard's leadership, the New York-based Lambda grew from a staff of six to 22 and began its national expansion by creating regional offices to serve lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV and AIDS around the country. During Stoddard's tenure, Lambda opened a Western Regional Office in Los Angeles. The oldest and largest lesbian and gay legal organization, Lambda now maintains its National Headquarters in New York, the Los Angeles office, a Midwest Regional Office in Chicago, and plans to open a Southern Regional Office in Atlanta later this year. Stoddard, who also co-authored New York City's lesbian and gay civil rights law, still pursued his public role on behalf of lesbian and gay civil rights after leaving Lambda. He continued to be an active advocate for people with AIDS and HIV and. served as director of the Campaign for Military Service in the effort to force the Clinton Administration to keep its promise to end discrimination against lesbians and gay men. Lambda said in a statement following Stoddard's death, "To lesbians, gay men, people with HIV and AIDS, and Lambda in particular, Tom was not just a part of our civil rights struggle, he was an irreplaceable leader and friend. As Lambda's executive director from 1986 to 1992, when the country rarely saw such a persuasive and confident gay activist demanding public attention and respect, Tom taught us the power of pride, dedication, and even humor. He was another of the great leaders of our civil rights struggle who kept fighting until death stopped him in the battlefield. "The force of Tom's eloquence and intellect, and his determination to continue the fight for justice even in the face of his own illness with AIDS, inspires Lambda and many others for the future." Stoddard was born in Seattle and raised in Glenview, Ill., near Chicago. He graduated from Georgetown University and the New York University School of Law, where he was a fellow in the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program and from 1981, was an adjunct professor of law. Prior to joining Lambda in 1986, Stoddard was legislative director for the New York Civil Liberties Union after first serving as counsel to that position. Lambda honored Stoddard for his civil rights work with a Liberty Award in 1993. The Tom Stoddard Fellowship was established at New York University in 1996, to be awarded to third-year law students to work on lesbian and gay civil rights with public-interest organizations. Stoddard is survived by his spouse Walter Rieman, his mother, Meta, of Conroe, Texas, a brother John of Seattle, and a sister Linda Leonard of Henderson Harbor, N.Y. Arrangements for a memorial service are pending. -- 30 -- Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is a national organization committed to achieving the full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.