84- ELIZABETH SCHWARTZ — LGBT attorney, activist
Miami Beach attorney Elizabeth Schwartz, one of South Florida’s best-known champions for same sex couples and alternative families, has many causes. Among them are helping hundreds of gay and lesbian clients have children via surrogacy programs or sperm banks and serving as pro-bono counsel in several cases to overturn legislation banning gay people from adopting. She is also the chairwoman of the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association of South Florida. In 2012, she won the Eddy McIntyre Community Service Award, named for her friend, a prominent South Florida attorney and gay activist who took his own life in 2007. “It’s especially meaningful to get this recognition in the name of Eddy, whom I loved, and from an incredible organization that’s doing so much in our community,” Schwartz said.
