ATLANTA – OUT Georgia Business Alliance recently named Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP as a finalist for its 2020 Community Honors in the category of Corporate LGBTQ+ Ally of the Year.

OUT Georgia nominated the firm as a “corporate partner or member that has shown exemplary support to the LGBTQ+ business community and to OUT Georgia Business Alliance,” according to the organization. Nominees have taken a true leadership role in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace; demonstrated a high level of corporate social responsibility in the community; and supported their employee diversity.

Nelson Mullins joined OUT Georgia, then known as the Atlanta Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, in 2015 as a silver sponsor and immediately set about defining ways it could support the Chamber and community through activities that would be considered meaningful to its members. The firm was nominated in the Corporate Ally category in 2015, as well.

Nelson Mullins’ advocacy and allyship for the LGBTQ+ community is driven by its LGBTQ+ Affinity and Ally Group. Under the direction of Denver Office Managing Partner Mark Clouatre, the LGBTQ+ Affinity and Ally Group serves internally as a resource and outreach group for those identifying as LGBTQ+ as well as their allies. Externally, the group hosts community events centered on education and advocacy for the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights, including partnerships with Atlanta Pride, the National LGBT Bar Association and its Law Annual Conference, and OUT Georgia.

In October 2020 and as a kick-off to Atlanta Pride, the firm hosted an online Atlanta Pride event, “Beyond Bostock: Protections and Barriers for the LGBTQ+ Community,” in light of the Supreme Court’s recent opinion affirming transgender and LGBTQ+ rights in the workplace. The firm also participated in the CommUNITY Rainbow Run to raise money for the Orlando-based onePULSE Foundation, in honor and in memory of those who lost their lives in the Orlando nightclub tragedy.

EducationCounsel, a subsidiary of Nelson Mullins led by Art Coleman, has longstanding ties with GLSEN and has co-authored a number of amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and several federal circuit courts of appeal to protect the rights of transgender students across the country. Several of the cases have been ruled in favor of the plaintiff, including Adams v. The School Board of St. Johns County, Florida, which the Eleventh Circuit decided in August.