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Sherin and Lodgen’s Pride affinity group hosts GLAD legal legends for educational program on LGBTQ+ rights

Sherin and Lodgen hosted LGBTQ+ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) lawyers, Mary Bonauto and Gary Buseck, to speak to the firm’s attorneys and staff about the impacts of recent Supreme Court decisions on LGBTQ+ issues, GLAD, and ways to support the organization’s mission. The program was organized and hosted by the firm’s S&L Pride affinity group, which is co-chaired by Sherin Associate Daniel S. Guenther and IT & Operations Specialist Karisa D. Hill. Sherin is a longtime supporter of GLAD and regularly attends GLAD’s LGBTQ+ Legal Advocates & Defenders Annual Spirit of Justice Award Dinner.

As part of Sherin and Lodgen’s commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, the firm established an S&L Pride affinity group focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer inclusion efforts. The group, which is comprised of LGBTQ+ attorneys, staff and allies, is focused on internal educational events, social programs, and community outreach.

About the GLAD Speakers

Mary Bonauto is GLAD’s Senior Director of Civil Rights and Legal Strategies. She has been an attorney at GLAD since 1990 and was lead counsel in the case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which made Massachusetts the first state in which same-sex couples could marry.  In 2015 she successfully argued before the US Supreme Court in the historic case Obergefell v. Hodges, which established the freedom to marry for same-sex couples nationwide. She has litigated and done policy work in every New England state and litigated on many types of discrimination issues, including addressing anti-LGBTQ discrimination as discrimination based on sex, establishing parentage protections, strengthening student rights, free speech, and religious liberty, relationship recognition, and marriage defense.

Gary Buseck has been involved with GLAD in various capacities for more than 40 years, including serving as Executive Director from the fall of 1997 to January 2004. After spending the bulk of a year working at Lambda Legal in 2004, Gary returned as GLAD’s Legal Director, setting legal strategy and supervising GLAD’s team of attorneys, then changed roles to Senior Advisor at the end of 2020. Before coming to GLAD, Buseck spent 20 years in private practice, and co-founded a Boston law firm focusing on the gay and lesbian community. He received a B.A., a Masters in Religious Education and a J.D. (magna cum laude) from Boston College.

About GLAD

Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLAD works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation. GLAD is committed to fulfilling this mission with urgency and perseverance. To learn more and to donate, click here.

From left to right: Laura Kaplan, Karisa D. Hill, Daniel S. Guenther, Mary Bonauto, Nancy S. Shilepsky