Our Team

Alexander Chen, Esq.

Alexander Chen is a founding member of PLAC and the Founding Director of the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. Alexander’s work focuses on expanding the rights of LGBTQ+ people. He also teaches Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, and the Law at the Law School.

Previously, Alexander served as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. He also co-drafted AB 2119, a bill that made California the first state to guarantee access to transition-related health care for trans youth in foster care.

Alexander has received numerous awards for his work, including being named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Law and Policy, and one of the 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association. He is also a co-founder of the National Trans Bar Association and a co-author of the Trans Youth Handbook. Alexander received his B.A. from Oxford University, his M.A. from Columbia University, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was the first openly transgender editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Kimberly M. Rhoten, Esq.

Mx. Kimberly M. Rhoten is a founding member of PLAC and is a lawyer, advocate, and researcher. They received their B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and their Juris Doctorate from The University of Chicago Law School.

Currently, Mx. Rhoten is completing their PhD in Sociology at Boston University, where their current research projects address the legal institution’s treatment of polyamorous parents and their children. They are also Co-Chair of Legal Issues for the American Psychological Association’s Division 44 Committee on Consensual Non-Monogamy.

For over a decade, Mx. Rhoten has been dedicated to public interest litigation and social justice advocacy in the following areas: housing instability, homelessness, polyamorous persons’ legal and social rights, digital privacy, and LGBTI rights.

Heron Greenesmith, Esq.

Heron Greenesmith is a founding member of PLAC and a progressive policy attorney & advocate who specializes in providing support for bisexual and pansexual communities. From the White House to conferences across the country, Heron speaks and writes about the disparities facing LGBTQ people and how to remedy them through policy advocacy. ​

Currently monitoring anti-LGBTQI rhetoric as a Senior Research Analyst at Political Research Associates and teaching as an adjunct Professor at Boston University School of Law, Heron has worked in progressive advocacy spaces for over a decade with the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, the Movement Advancement Project, Family Equality Council, and the National LGBTQ Task Force.

Heron is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and American University, Washington College of Law. They are a former board secretary of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association, a former board member of the National LGBT Bar Association, a former Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow, and a returned Peace Corps Volunteer.

Diana Adams, Esq.

Diana is a founding member of PLAC, and a founder of the Chosen Family Law Center, a nonprofit organization providing legal support services for LGBTQIA, polyamorous, and other underserved families, public education on these family forms, and training for professionals to support these communities with dignity. Diana is also the founder of a boutique LGBTQ family law and mediation firm.

Diana is proud to be one of the New York State representatives for the LBGT Family Law Institute of The National LGBT Bar Association, as well as a member of The LGBTQI Family Professionals of New York.

Diana is a leader in support of polyamorous families and nontraditional family structures. Diana has argued many child custody and divorce cases in New York State in which a parent has had their private adult consensual sexual behavior unfairly used against them in a child custody case in which the child is unaffected and no inappropriate behavior toward the child has occurred.

Diana does frequent media interviews, public speaking, and teaching. Diana does frequent law school teaching, most recently as an Adjunct Law Professor at Cornell Law School teaching LGBTQ Family Law, and as a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard law School. Diana is frequently interviewed as an expert on LGBTQ and nontraditional family structures.

Andy Izenson, Esq.

Andy is a founding member of PLAC, Senior Legal Director of Chosen Family Law Center, and senior associate attorney at Diana Adams Law & Mediation. They are a passionate advocate and educator around alternative family law and family creation, gender and sexuality, and restorative and transformative justice. This advocacy extends both to education work as well as to direct services work as an attorney, mediator, consultant, and practitioner of restorative and transformative justice.

Andy is a dedicated member of the LGBTQI Family Professionals of New York, working with New York families to resolve conflict without state intervention, the NYC chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, serving as Vice President, Executive Committee member, and protest support, the selective Family Law Institute of the National LGBT Bar Association, and the Family and Matrimonial Law Committee of the LGBT Bar Association of Greater NewYork.

Andy speaks and educates nationwide on these topics, and their writing has been published in multiple publications.

Heath Schechinger, M.Ed., Ph.D.

Dr. Heath Schechinger is a Co-Founder of PLAC and serves as the Executive Director of the Modern Family Institute, an organization dedicated to research, education, policy, and clinical practice focused on diverse family and relationship forms. Dr. Schechinger is also a Founding Co-Chair of the American Psychological Association Division 44 Committee on Consensual Non-monogamy, and sits on the board of the Organization for Polyamory and Ethical Non-monogamy. Dr. Schechinger is honored to contribute as Affiliate Faculty at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University.

With over a decade of experience in research and therapeutic practice, Dr. Schechinger’s groundbreaking work delves into the complex dynamics that underscore both monogamous and non-monogamous relationships. His research illuminates the factors that engender healthy, thriving relationships and extends into emerging paradigms like polyamory, platonic co-parenting, and other non-nuclear configurations.

A prolific author, Dr. Schechinger has penned multiple empirical publications and clinical resources that provide invaluable insights into the practice and ethics of CNM. His work has captured the attention of mainstream media, earning features in prominent outlets such as The New York Times, BBC, Vogue, Goop, and Psychology Today.

Through his integrated approach combining academic insight, clinical acumen, and social advocacy, Dr. Heath Schechinger remains at the forefront of the ongoing dialogue on family and relationship diversity.