Kitty Lambert is an

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

rights activist. She was raised

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and married a male Mormon missionary when she was seventeen. She did not come out as a lesbian for many years out of fear of losing her children. Lambert is president of (and was involved in the founding of) OUTspoken for Equality, an

rights nonprofit in the Western New York area, and as such was instrumental in convincing the New York state legislature to legalize

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

. In 2010 Lambert and her partner Cheryle Rudd went to a marriage office in Buffalo, New York to apply for a marriage license, accompanied by a group of supporters. They were refused, but Lambert was given a license to marry a 22-year-old man at the marriage office whom she had never met before. She did not marry him, but the incident was filmed and put on

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, where as of July 2011 it had been viewed by 125,000 people. Over the years, Lambert had three heart attacks, and Rudd had cervical and thyroid cancer. They had difficulty with hospitals due to lack of legal recognition of their relationship. In 2011 Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in New York. She and Rudd had been together for twelve years prior to their marriage. Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster officiated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Kitty LGBT people from New York (state) American LGBT rights activists American lesbians Activists from Buffalo, New York Former Latter Day Saints Year of birth missing (living people) Living people