Gloria Allred facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gloria Allred
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Allred in 2012
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| Born |
Gloria Rachel Bloom
July 3, 1941 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Education |
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| Occupation | Attorney, human rights activist |
| Employer | Allred, Maroko & Goldberg |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
Peyton Huddleston Bray Jr.
(m. 1960; div. 1962)William Allred
(m. 1968; div. 1987) |
| Children | Lisa Bloom |
Gloria Rachel Allred (née Bloom; born July 3, 1941) is an American attorney known for taking high-profile and often controversial cases, particularly those involving the protection of women's rights. She has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Contents
Early life and education
Gloria Rachel Bloom was born in Philadelphia into a Jewish working-class family on July 3, 1941. Her father, Morris, worked as a salesman; her British-born mother, Stella, was a householder. After graduating from the Philadelphia High School for Girls, she attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her first husband, Peyton Huddleston Bray Jr. The couple had their only child, Lisa Bloom, on September 20, 1961, and divorced shortly after. Bloom is also an attorney and is best known as a former Court TV anchor.
Gloria Bloom moved back in with her parents and continued her education. In 1963, she earned a bachelor's degree in English, graduating with honors. Over strong objections from her professor, she wrote her honors thesis on black writers. She was employed in a number of occupations before she decided to become a teacher, taking a position at Benjamin Franklin High School. She began work on a graduate degree at New York University, where she became interested in the civil rights movement. After earning a master's degree, she became a teacher and, in 1966, moved to Los Angeles, where she resided in Watts. She worked for the Los Angeles Teachers Association and taught at Jordan High School and Fremont High School.
In 1968, she married William Allred. She enrolled in Southwestern University School of Law and later transferred to Loyola University School of Law at the Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Allred graduated and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1975. Allred divorced her husband in 1987, retaining her married name.
Career
Legal
In a legal career that has spanned four decades, Allred has represented a wide variety of clients in civil rights suits that have involved women's rights, wrongful termination, and employment discrimination. The New Republic has called her "a longtime master of the press conference". She often takes high-profile cases, using press conferences and appearances on television to much effect. Allred has represented many clients in suits against celebrities, including those against Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Herman Cain, David Boreanaz, Scott Lee Cohen, Anthony Weiner, Sacha Baron Cohen, Esai Morales, and R. Kelly.
1970s and 1980s
Allred founded the firm Allred, Maroko, & Goldberg with fellow Loyola graduates Michael Maroko and Nathan Goldberg in January 1976. In 1979, Allred represented seven children and their parents in a lawsuit against the Sav-On Drugstore chain to stop the store from designating separate sections for boys' and girls' toys.
In 1987, Allred took on the then all-male Friars Club of Beverly Hills, an exclusive private club, over its membership discrimination policies. The Friars Club eventually allowed Allred and five other women to use the club's health facilities, after Allred displayed early skills in effective use of the media.
1990s
In 1983, Allred represented lesbian activists Deborah Johnson and Zandra Rolón in their lawsuit against the owner of a Los Angeles restaurant, Papa Choux, after he denied them service in a booth reserved for "romantic couples". While the lower court denied the two an injunction based on unlawful discrimination, the appellate court reversed the decision in Rolon v. Kulwitzky (1984), finding that the restaurant's behavior was discrimination prohibited under the Los Angeles Municipal Code. Rather than serve LGBT couples, the restaurant decided to eliminate the booths altogether, and took out newspaper ads inviting the public to a "Wake for Romance" event.
In 1995, Allred represented 11-year-old Katrina Yeaw in Yeaw v. Boy Scouts of America, a suit against the Boy Scouts of America to determine whether the organization had the right to exclude girls from membership. That same year, she represented Nicole Brown Simpson's family during the O. J. Simpson murder trial. In August 1997, she represented model Kelly Fisher when she sued Dodi Fayed for allegedly breaking off their engagement to begin his highly publicized relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales. The suit was dropped not long after Diana and Fayed died in Paris that August.
Allred represented Melrose Place actress Hunter Tylo in 1997 when producer Aaron Spelling fired her because she was pregnant. A jury awarded Tylo $4.8 million. The case was important in establishing the rights of actors to continue work if they become pregnant.
2000s
In 2002, Allred represented the family of Gwen Araujo, a transgender teen who was brutally beaten to death when it was learned that she had been assigned male at birth.
In 2004, Allred represented Amber Frey when Frey was a witness in the criminal case against Scott Peterson for the murder of his wife Laci Peterson. On February 24, 2004, Allred and her law firm, Allred, Maroko, and Goldberg, filed the first lawsuit in California challenging the denial of marriage licenses for same-sex couples as being unconstitutional. She took the case pro bono for Robin Tyler and Diane Olson and Rev. Troy Perry and his spouse Phillip Ray De Blieck. The case went to the California Supreme Court, where on May 15, 2008 she won a decision affirming the right of same-sex couples to marry in California. She represented three former Circuit City employees on behalf of a large plaintiff class in an age discrimination lawsuit against that company after it fired 3,400 workers nationwide in April 2007.
On July 30, 2008, Allred filed a complaint with federal regulators against Downey Savings and Loan Association regarding check-cashing procedures. Marc Retmier, a 19-year-old US Navy Hospitalman, was killed in action in Afghanistan in June 2008. Downey Savings refused to immediately cash his family's military bereavement checks, and family members were compelled to seek funding elsewhere to pay for his funeral services.
In May 2009, Allred filed a suit arguing that Nadya Suleman was exploiting her octuplets. Allred asked for a court-appointed guardian, claiming that Suleman was not properly taking their interests into consideration.
2010s
Allred was visible in the 2010 California gubernatorial race, going public as the lawyer for Nicky Diaz, a former domestic worker for Republican nominee Meg Whitman. Allred contended that Whitman employed Diaz for years while knowing that Diaz was an undocumented immigrant.
On October 18, 2011, Allred won court approval to represent nine former cocktail waitresses who were fired from their jobs at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey after they "did not look good enough" in new uniforms modeled after 1920s-era Flapper outfits. Resorts had sought to bar Allred from the discrimination lawsuit, arguing in court papers that her "flamboyant and headline-grabbing antics" would add nothing to the case.
On October 4, 2013 Allred was hired by the wife of critically injured motorcyclist Edwin Mieses, who was run over by Alexian Lien during the Hollywood Stuntz gang assault. Lien ran over Mieses with his SUV while Lien was being surrounded and threatened by Mieses and his motorcycle gang on Manhattan's West Side Highway. Fellow bikers later caught up with Lien and assaulted him. Allred told the press that Mieses, who suffered spinal injuries and two broken legs, was an "innocent victim" who was trying to "defuse the situation".
In 2017, former Allred client Kyle Hunter filed official complaints with both the State Bar of California and the District of Columbia Bar, alleging conflict of interest because Allred was in negotiations with CBS at the same time she was representing him in a lawsuit against CBS for employment discrimination. Allred issued a statement denying any wrongdoing and claiming the investigation was sparked by a failed extortion attempt.
Entertainment
Allred co-hosted a radio talkshow with Mark Taylor on KABC in Los Angeles for 14 years. She also served as a panelist on the 1990 revival of television game show To Tell the Truth. On March 28, 2000, Allred was parodied on the animated TV show Family Guy, by a character named Gloria Ironbox voiced by Candice Bergen in an episode titled "I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar". Allred appears as herself in the 2001 film Rat Race. On May 21, 2001 she was parodied on The Simpsons episode "Behind the Laughter" portraying a lawyer at the family table for Lisa Simpson. On June 27, 2001, she was parodied on South Park's episode Cripple Fight.
On September 12, 2011, Allred debuted into the courtroom television genre with We the People with Gloria Allred, a show using improv actors to reenact fictitious case scenarios. In April 2013, Allred appeared on the reality show RuPaul's Drag Race, interviewing and advising the final three contestants on selling themselves as "America's Next Drag Superstar". On November 27, 2016 Allred appeared as herself on the Epix Tv show Graves.
Political life
Allred founded (incorporated in 1978) and is currently president of the Women’s Equal Rights Legal Defense and Education Fund WERDLEF (Legal Momentum). In 1980, Allred held a fundraiser at Chippendales for WERLDEF.
Personal life
Allred and her first husband, Peyton Huddleston Bray, Jr., were married in 1960 and subsequently divorced in 1962. She and her second husband, William Allred, were married in 1968 and divorced in 1987. Her only child, Lisa Bloom, was born in 1961.
Although she is Jewish, Allred does not consider herself particularly religious.
See also
In Spanish: Gloria Allred para niños
