Bio
James D. Esseks is Co-Director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer & HIV Project. Through litigation, legislative lobbying, policy advocacy, organizing, and public education, the ACLU seeks to ensure equality and justice for LGBTQ people and people living with HIV.
James was counsel in Bostock v. Clayton County, which established that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under federal law; in Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that won the freedom to marry nationwide; in United States v. Windsor, which struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act; in Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, about whether a Virginia school board can bar a boy from the common restrooms because he is transgender; in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, about whether a business open to the public can turn away LGBTQ customers based on its religious or artistic objections; and in successful challenges to bans on adoption and foster parenting by lesbians and gay men in Arkansas, Florida, and Missouri.
James and the ACLU have also worked extensively to fight anti-LGBTQ and specifically anti-transgender bills in the states and to fight the use of religion to justify discrimination against LGBTQ people.
The National LGBTQ Bar Association awarded James the in 2013, the organization’s “highest honor,” recognizing individuals whose work “has led the way in our struggle for equality under the law.”
James graduated from Yale College and Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Prior to joining the ACLU in 2001, he was a partner at Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, PC. James clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Carter, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, and the Honorable James R. Browning, United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.
Selected Writing
, Washington Post
, Daily Beast
, Daily Beast
, The Advocate
Selected appearances
, Today Show with Megyn Kelly
, MSNBC with Thomas Roberts
, CNN
, NOW with Alex Wagner, MSNBC
Featured work
Aug 29, 2019
Taxpayers Have Been Ordered to Pay Over $2 Million For Discriminating Against LGBTQ People
Apr 22, 2019
Supreme Court Takes Cases of People Fired for Being LGBTQ
Oct 24, 2018
Aimee Stephens Was Fired Because She Is Transgender. That’s Sex Discrimination.
Oct 22, 2018
The Trump Administration Is Trying to Erase Trans People, but the Law Clearly Protects Them
Oct 11, 2018
Jury Sends Wisconsin a $780,000 Bill for Denying Health Care to Two Transgender Workers
Aug 27, 2018
A Court in Florida Affirms Dignity for Transgender People, Even in Prison
Jul 18, 2018
Is There a Religious Right to Discriminate Against LGBT Foster and Adoptive Parents? A Federal Court Says No.
Jun 25, 2018
Enforcing Nondiscrimination Laws Is Not a Sign of Anti-Religious Bias
Jun 4, 2018
In Masterpiece, the Bakery Wins the Battle but Loses the War
Apr 12, 2018
The Victory in Anchorage Belongs to the Transgender Community