Announcing our 2024 Community Excellence Awardees

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Esq. (he/him), Counsel and the Health Care Strategist at Lambda Legal

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan is Counsel and the Health Care Strategist at Lambda Legal, where he advocates for the civil rights of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV. Gonzalez-Pagan was instrumental in achieving two pivotal victories for LGBTQ people before the U.S. Supreme Court—Obergefell v. Hodges and Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia. As a member of the legal team in Obergefell, he helped secure marriage equality nationwide. He also co-authored Lambda Legal’s amicus briefs in Bostock and EEOC and Aimee Stephens v. R.G. G.R Harris Funeral Homes, in which the Supreme Court held discrimination based on sexual orientation and transgender status is unlawful under the federal Civil Rights Act.

Gonzalez-Pagan also obtained the first court decision in the country holding that the Federal Housing Act’s sex discrimination prohibition covers discrimination against LGBTQ people in Smith v. Avanti. As lead counsel in Evancho v. Pine-Richland School District, Gonzalez-Pagan obtained a key legal victory for the rights of transgender students.

As Health Care Strategist, Gonzalez-Pagan has been a leading advocate for the Affordable Care Act, particularly as it applies to LGBTQ people, and access to gender-affirming medical care for transgender people. In Doe v. Abbott and PFLAG v. Abbott, Gonzalez-Pagan put a stop to efforts by Texas to redefine “child abuse” to encompass the provision of necessary gender-affirming medical care to transgender youth. He has also challenged bans on the provision of gender-affirming medical care for trans youth in Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas in Soe v. Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners, Noe v. Parson, Voe v. Mansfield, Poe v. Drummond, and Loe v. Texas. In Dekker v. Weida, Gonzalez-Pagan led the legal team that successfully challenged Florida’s ban on Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming medical care after a two-week trial. 

Gonzalez-Pagan has also been at the forefront of cross-movement legal efforts to secure a more just and equitable society. Gonzalez-Pagan serves as Lambda Legal’s lead counsel in Immigration Equality v. DHS, where he successfully stopped the Trump administration’s death-to-asylum from ever going into effect, and was counsel in Diversity Center v. Trump, where he was part of the legal team that successfully challenged former President Trump’s executive order prohibiting federal contractors and grantees from conducting workplace diversity trainings or engaging in grant-funded work that explicitly acknowledges and confronts the existence of structural racism and sexism in our society.

Gonzalez-Pagan is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Cornell University.

Danielle (Danny) King, Esq. (he/she/they), Senior Youth Policy Counsel at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)

Danielle (Danny) King is the Senior Youth Policy Counsel at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), where they practice through an intersectional lens to advance the well-being of LGBTQ youth through community education, collaboration with coalitions, and public policy advocacy, particularly for LGBTQ youth impacted by the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems. Danielle (Danny) first joined NCLR in 2021, as a Gender Equality Attorney where they engaged in legal research and training, assisted in amicus brief support, and tracked nationwide litigation related to sex discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. 

Prior to joining NCLR, Danielle (Danny) was a Staff Attorney in the Community Justice Unit at the Legal Aid Society where they provided legal support to community organization members and helped lead the pre-arraignment criminal diversion program, Project Reset, in Queens County. Danielle (Danny) also served for multiple years as an Attorney for the Child in the Juvenile Rights Practice at the Legal Aid Society, where they represented youth between the ages of 0-21 in abuse and neglect proceedings as well as juvenile delinquency arraignments. 

Danielle (Danny) has conducted numerous CLE trainings and presentations on the issues LGBTQ youth face in the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice systems and how race, class, and culture affect the reasons why BIPOC children and families are disproportionately brought into various court systems. Between 2018-2020, Danielle (Danny) served as a Representative of the LGBTQ Caucus of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA). From 2020 to 2023, Danielle (Danny) served as Co-chair of the New York City Bar Association’s LGBTQ Rights Committee. Danielle (Danny) currently serves on the Legal Education Track Committee for the Philly Trans Wellness Conference. 

Danielle (Danny) attained a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law (2016), an M.A. in Urban Affairs from CUNY-Queens College (2012), and a B.A. in English from Michigan State University (2009).

Meredith R. Miller, Esq. (she/her), Professor at Touro University, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center and Principal Attorney at Miller Law, PLLC

Meredith R. Miller has been a law professor for twenty years; for most of that time, she has been a member of the faculty of Touro University, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. She is also the principal attorney in Miller Law, PLLC.

Prior to teaching, Meredith was on the Central Staff of the New York Court of Appeals. As an associate at Proskauer, she litigated commercial and pro bono matters. Through Miller Law, PLLC, Meredith continues to consult and co-counsel with other attorneys on complex litigation, arbitration, and appeals in corporate, commercial, and employment matters. She is trained as a mediator and serves as a FINRA arbitrator. She also provides transactional representation to employees, freelancers, and emerging and established businesses.

At Touro, Meredith’s teaching has twice been recognized by her students with a “Professor of the Year” award. Her scholarly writing focuses on contract doctrine and theory, employment law, and closely held business law. Her writing has helped shape the path of the law, and has been cited by courts and leading casebooks.

Meredith believes in the power of bar associations to elevate the profession and benefit the community. She is a past president of the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York (LGBT Bar NY), where she was a member of the board for a decade. She is also a past president of the Network of Bar Leaders, where she continues to participate on its Leadership Advisory Council.

Meredith is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and highly qualified judiciary and has served on LGBT Bar NY’s Judiciary Committee, as well as the administrator of the Manhattan Democratic Party’s Panel for Supreme Court (2023) and Civil Court (2020). By appointment of the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, she is a member of the Richard C. Failla LGBTQ Commission of the New York State Courts.

Meredith obtained an interdisciplinary B.A., cum laude, in Studio Fine Art and English at Union College. She received a J.D., cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School, where she was an Executive Articles and Research Editor of the Brooklyn Law Review, an Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Fellow, and a Richardson Merit Scholar. She earned an LL.M. in Legal Education from Temple University Law School.