Thirty-eight courtroom drawings by artist Marilyn Church. The drawings depict scenes from some of the most famous and notorious cases in the city of New York: Tupac Shakur's 1994 trial for sexual abuse; Sean John Combs's 2001 trial for assault and weapons violations; Sid Vicious's (John Simon Ritchie) pre-trial hearing for murder in 1978; Rubin "Hurricane" Carter's 1976 re-trial for murder; John Hinckley, Jr.'s 1982 trial for attempting to assassinate President Ronald Reagan; Mark David Chapman's 1981 trial for the murder of John Lennon; Kevin King's 1982 trial for harassing Caroline Kennedy; photographer Ron Galella's trial for stalking Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; Brooke Shields's 1981 case against photographer Gary Gross; David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz's 1978 murder trial; the 1990 trial of five youths charged with assaulting a jogger in Central Park; Bernhard Goetz's 1987 trial for attempted murder and assault; Michael Milken's 1990 trial for securities violations; the 2002 trial of executives of WorldCom; Martha Stewart's 2004 trial for conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges; John Gotti's 1992 trial for racketeering, murder and numerous other charges; Joseph Quinlan's petition to the court to discontinue keeping his daughter, Karen Ann Quinlan, alive by means of a respirator; the 1978 negligence lawsuit of a Florida couple named Del Zio against Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center over one of the first attempts at conceiving a "test tube baby"; the 1987 custody dispute regarding "Baby M", who was born to a surrogate mother, Mary Beth Whitehead; the 1974 trial of John Mitchell and Maurice Stans for their roles in the Watergate conspiracy; New Jersey Senator Harrison A. Williams's 1981 trial for conspiracy and bribery following the FBI's "Abscam" sting operation; General William Westmoreland's 1982 lawsuit against CBS; the FALN's (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional) 1997 hearing on charges of terrorism; the 1983-1984 trial of several members of the Black Liberation Army for robbery of a Brinks armored car (a series of trials that came to be referred to as the "Brinks trials"); the 1993 trial of four defendants in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; and the "Landmarks Terror Trial", in which ten Arab immigrants were tried for a plot to blow up a wide range of New York City landmarks.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical/Historical note:
New York-based courtroom artist.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Marilyn Church in 2008.
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access on site by appointment.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
This collection contains records and research material produced and collected by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a lobbying and legal assistance organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender servicepersons. They were instrumental in overturning the United States Department of Defense's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains correspondence, case files, legal briefs, subject files, research files, press releases, office records, clipping files, publications, and other material produced and collected by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a lobbying and non-profit legal services organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender military servicepersons founded in the aftermath of the passage of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) legislation of December 1993. These records do not include material generated post 2009 and the final two years before the official overturning of DADT in September 2011. Before donation to the Archives Center, SLDN removed any material that they deemed sensitive, personal, or in violaton of their client's privacy.
Correspondence contains that which was sent by SLDN and received by SLDN. Major correspondents were: the Executive Office of the President, members of Congress, officials of the Department of Defense and other defense related federal agencies, other similarly focused non-profit organizations as well as private citizens. Correspondence may also include petitions, corresonpondence with clients of SLDN, those seeking legal services and or statistics related to DADT and others. Case files are generally refence copies of cases filed by SLDN, individuals, or invdividuals with other organizations relating to LGBT treatment within the military. Case files contain most often the public record copy of the legal brief that was filed with the courts and any supporting or relevant documents. Legal briefs relate to cases filed by SLDN or to the cases that in some way informed those legal cases and issues related to the mission of SLDN. Subject and research files were complied from various sources and contain copies or original material produced in support of the SLDN mission with regard to legal actions or as a lobbying organization. Press releases are generally those produced by SLDN. Office records pertain to the day to day workings of the organization and inter-office memorada and communication between employees or other organizations. Clipping files were compiled from a variety of national and international sources such as newspapers, magazines, and journals and used as reference tools within SLDN. Publications were those produced either by SLDN or collected by SLDN for research and reference purposes in-house.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into four series, one of which has been arranged further into subseries. The contents of each series or subseries are arranged chronologically. The series and subseries arrangement of the records is as follows:
Series 1, Administrative Records, 1994-2008
Series 2, Subject Files, 1980-2009 (bulk 1994-2009)
Subseries 1: Research Files, 1980-2008, undated
Subseries 2: Department of Defense, 1985-2003, undated
Subseries 3: United States Army, 1994-2005
Subseries 4: United States Navy, 1991-2008, undated
Subseries 5: United States Air Force, 1994-2004, undated
Subseries 6: United States Coast Guard, 1996-2005
Subseries 7: National Guard and Reserves, 2004
Series 3, Publications, 1988-2007
Series 4, Case Files, 1975-2008, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) is a non-profit founded in 1993 in the wake of the Clinton adminstration's efforts to make military service legal and non-discriminatory for openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons. The organization employs less than twenty persons and has a Board of Directors. SLDN provided legal services to LGBT servicmembers and was also a lobbying and policy organization. This initiative resulted in the passing of legislation commonly referred to as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) in December 1993. DADT prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual servicemembers or applicants while still barring openly homosexual or bisexual persons from military service. This policy proved controversial and continued to result in the discrimination and separation of LGBT persons from the military.
The original purpose of SLDN was working to overturn the DADT policy through legal or legislative means while providing free legal services to servicemembers targeted by DADT. Its scope of concern not only included active duty personnel but the National Guard, reserves, and officer training programs. On occasion it worked with other similarly focused organizations and directly with the Department of Defense and other relevant federal agencies. By the time of the repeal of DADT in September 2011 and its official enactment in January 2012, SLDN had provided legal aid to thousands of servicepersons.
In July 2012 SLDN announced that it was merging with OutServe, effective in October 2012. OutServe is an organization of active LGBT military servicepersons, reportedly one of the largest employee resource groups in the world. SLDN continues to provide free legal advice and assistance and also works with veteran organizations while maintaining a "watchdog" status on LGBT issues within the military establishment.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Collection, 1942-2012, undated (AC1146)
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), 2012.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Don't ask, don't tell (Military personnel policy) Search this
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Records, 1877-2009 (bulk 1993-2008), undated, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution