Skip to content

Task Force Holley Policy Law Fellowships and externships are available full-time each summer. Holley Policy Law Fellows work alongside several attorneys in our Advocacy and Action Department on local, state, and federal policy advocacy. Holley Policy Law Fellows will have the opportunity to meet and work with a diverse network of LGBTQ and allied attorneys working on a variety of progressive issues.

Projects fellows have worked on in the past few years include:

  • Researching and writing legal memos for internal use on how Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality is currently mechanized in the law, and how that applies to LGBTQ people of color
  • Writing public comments on regulations that govern drug testing for employment, the “blood ban,” SNAP benefits, and discrimination against transgender people and women in healthcare, for submission to federal agencies
  • Proposing innovative ways to provide education to our members on the issues they care about most – like sex ed, conditions of parole and probation, and source-of-income protections in housing
  • Collaborating on amicus briefs to be filed at the Supreme Court on issues like LGBTQ discrimination protections and access to abortion
  • Collaborating with staff attorneys on reviewing and drafting legislative language

Priority Issues

The Task Force advocates for legislative and policy changes primarily in the following issue areas: democracy, faith & religious exemptions, health care including reproductive and disability issues, nondiscrimination protections, LGBTQ data collection, anti-poverty, and criminal justice (including immigration enforcement issues). All of our work includes an analysis of the issues through racial, gender, and economic justice lenses.

Philosophy

The Holley Law Fellowship program is a hands-on program in which Holley Law Fellows are given a diverse range of assignments that reflect the work of policy advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. The National LGBTQ Task Force believes that the only way to build a movement of effective policy advocates is to provide practical experience in the day-to-day life of national-level LGBTQ+ policy lawyers, with guidance and supervision from our experienced attorneys. As such, Holley Law Fellows frequently follow a project from start to finish, as they draft research and advocacy memoranda, attend meetings with coalition allies to strategize around effective policy change, and attend high-level meetings with policymakers to advocate for policy change.

Qualifications

Applicants should possess excellent interpersonal, legal research, and writing skills, and a strong interest in LGBTQ+ policy and/or nonprofit lawyering. 1Ls, 2Ls, 3Ls, and LL.M. candidates are eligible. Competition for positions in the program is high. For Summer positions, applicants must agree to work 10 weeks at full-time.

Compensation/Credit

Academic credit is available depending on the policies of the student’s law school. Summer Holley Law Fellows receive a stipend.

A group of people in a small conference session raise their hands, prompted by the session leader who is raising their hand from the front of the room.

Building Power

The Task Force has played a significant role in mobilizing, training, organizing – and at times challenging – the LGBTQ+ movement over the past 50 years. Organizers are the heart and soul of our organization. We’re committed to training and empowering a new generation of leaders.
Learn More