1980 BALiF founded – focuses on getting gay & lesbian judges, specifically Mary Morgan; membership predominantly male
1981 Mary Morgan appointed to bench; first Board of Directors elected; BALiF has 150 members
1982 BALiF board members lobby for Herb Donaldson’s appointment to San Francisco Muni Court, and he is appointed; membership hits 225
1983 BALiF creates AIDS Legal Referral Panel as a BALiF committee; First Annual G/L Law Student Conference; BALiF membership hits 300; Annual Dinner is attended by 150 people
1984 CALIF organized (now defunct; modeled on California Women Lawyers); first NEFIR student fellowships awarded; BALiF intervenes in bathhouse case, opposing closure
1985 BALiF takes on Gay Legal Referral Service (GLRS is spun off from BALiF in 195); LIFE Lobby founded – BALiF Board members very active in founding and early days of LIFE Lobby
1984-86 BALiF leadership has links to BASF and State Bar leadership, and grows to become established in the mainstream as a minority bar association
1987 At March on Washington (Hardwick decided in 1986), BALiF Board caucused and agreed to host the first Lavender Law Conference
1988 Lavender Law Conference (600 attendees) and AIDS Law Conference (300 attendees), as a result of BALiF leaders/board members work; as a result, National Lesbian and Gay Law Association (NLGLA) founded, NLGLA has hosted successive Lavender Law Conferences
1989 ALRP spun off from BALiF (it had grown tremendously)
1991-92 BALiF delegates author resolution that became A.B. 2601, prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which became law in 1992; BALiF founder and member Donna Hitchens first openly gay judge elected to San Francisco Superior Court
1992 BALiF board member catches that first ever State Bar Demographic survey is about to go, it does not solicit information about sexual orientation; leads effort that results in adding sexual orientation question (result of survey showed about 2 or 3% of State Bar is gay)
1993 BALiF major lobby for State Bar to form Committee on Sexual Orientation Discrimination, and effort is successful; BALiF identifies tax reporting problem, gains tax exempt status as a 501(c)(6) nonprofit business association, and files appropriate returns
1994 BALiF creates Legal Workers Committee, and pushes for increased legal worker membership and involvement; BALiF form Diversity Committee (first minority Board member elected in 1993); Diversity Committee makes links with other committees
1995 BALiF publishes first inclusive public directory; members who do not wish to be included must affirmatively opt out of publication
1996 BALiF members Kevin McCarthy and Kay Tsenin win contested elections for San Francisco Superior court and Municipal Court, respectively
1997 BALiF instrumental in moving passage of transgender antidiscrimination resolution in State Bar Conference of Delegates; Chief Justice Ronald M. George (California Supreme Court) keynote speaker at Annual Dinner; Justice Kathryn Werdegar also attends. BALiF hosts private reception for local LGBT judges with Supreme Court Justices; BALiF disbands Diversity Committee
1998 LIFE Lobby dissolves; formation of CAPE (California Alliance for Pride and Equality)
1999 BALiF successfully advocates for resolutions in the State Bar Conference of Delegates which add sexual orientation as a protected category under the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Fair Employment and Housing Act; Transgendered persons added to BALiF’s tag line; BALiF becomes incorporated (along with bylaw revisions)
2000 BALiF’s 20th Anniversary; BALiF participates in state-wide domestic partnership registry effort by hosting notary service at Annual Dinner for domestic partner registration; BALiF files amicus brief with U.S. Supreme Court in Boy Scouts case
2001 BALiF embarks on a campaign to diversity its Board of Directors to reflect differences in the racial, ethnic, geographic and work environments of the membership it represents
2002 BALiF lends its support to Permanent Partners Immigration Act and opposed the internet “protection” acts to block LGBT websites from public libraries
2003 BALiF becomes a full member of the Minority Bar Coalition, joining forces with more than 15 other local bars representing diverse segments of lawyers; BALiF files an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, joining others in the successful campaign which culminated in having all anti-sodomy laws struck down across the country
2004 BALiF meets with Governor’s judicial appointments secretary to discuss LGBT candidates for appointment to the bench; BALiF sponsors overwhelmingly successful resolution at State Bar Conference of Delegates redefining marriage as including same-sex couples; BALiF sponsors seven-part MCLE program on California’s new domestic partnership law
2005 BALiF celebrates 25th Anniversary; honors all LGBT Bay Area Judicial Officials with its Community Award; over twenty judges, magistrates, and commissioners appear on stage at Annual Dinner to accept the award, including BALiF founders Mary Morgan, Herb Donaldson, and Donna Hitchens; BALiF hosts the Minority Bar Coalition annual event for the first time
