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Lesbian & Gay Rights
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The LGBT Project fights discrimination and moves public opinion on LGBT rights through the courts, legislatures and public education across five issue areas:
- RELATIONSHIPS – Since the first marriage lawsuit for same-sex couples in 1972, the ACLU has been at the forefront of both legal and public education efforts to secure marriage for same-sex couples and win legal recognition for LGBT relationships.
- SCHOOLS & YOUTH – The LGBT Project’s Schools & Youth program defends free expression in public schools, demands that learning environments do not encourage bullying and violence, and helps educators create an atmosphere respectful of students’ sexual orientation and gender identity.
- PARENTING – The ACLU is committed to defending the rights of LGBT parents, not only in custody and visitation arrangements but also by challenging discriminatory laws that restrict the rights of LGBT people to parent.
- TRANSGENDER – The ACLU works to include gender identity in nondiscrimination laws, raises awareness of the types of harms that transgender people face, and brings impact lawsuits to change biased laws against transgender people in employment, schools, and public accommodations.
- DISCRIMINATION – Since the 1950s, the ACLU has been defending LGBT people from discrimination. Over the years, the ACLU has fought LGBT discrimination on several fronts—from challenging “sodomy” laws to advocating for civil rights that protect LGBT people.
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Lesbian Appeals Firing From Publicly-Funded Baptist Group Home In Kentucky (7/17/2008)
The American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a brief today in a federal appeals court urging the court to allow a discrimination lawsuit to go forward on behalf of a lesbian who was fired from her job at a publicly-funded Baptist group home in Kentucky. The home for vulnerable children required the woman to observe its religious belief that being a lesbian is sinful. The brief also charges that taxpayers should be able to challenge the state of Kentucky's decision to give public funds to a home that imposes its religious beliefs upon the children in its care.
CA Supreme Court Rules On Bennett v Bowen (7/16/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO - Today, the California Supreme Court issued an order in Bennett v. Bowen, S164520, denying a petition to remove Proposition 8, the proposed marriage ban, from the November ballot.
H&R Block to Give $100 Coupon or Free Tax Software to Gay Couples Barred from Online Tax Service After ACLU Letter (7/15/2008)
HARTFORD, CT - After pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, H&R Block has agreed to give $100 coupons or free TaxCut software to all gay couples who incurred additional costs because they were barred from using the company's online tax service, TaxCut Online. The coupons can be applied towards the costs of future tax preparation expenses with the company for the 2008 tax season. The company has also agreed to direct future tax filers with civil unions to a free online support specialist to help couples complete their taxes.
ACLU Applauds First-Ever Congressional Hearing on Gender Identity in the Workplace (6/26/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Heath, Employment, Labor, and Pensions for holding the first-ever congressional hearing on transgender issues and gender identity discrimination in the workplace. Chaired by Representative Robert Andrews (D-NJ), the committee heard from retired Army Colonel and ACLU client Diane Schroer. The ACLU is currently representing Schroer in a Title VII sex discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress.
ACLU Joins New Orleans Gay Pride Festivities (6/26/2008)
New Orleans - This weekend, the American Civil Liberties Union will participate in New Orleans's Gay Pride festival to support the LGBT community and to call attention to the discrimination lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face throughout Louisiana.
Settlement With Lake County School District Calls For Comprehensive Approach To Protecting Students From Anti-Gay Harassment (6/25/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO — The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) has reached a settlement with the Upper Lake Union School District that contains a comprehensive series of steps the district will undertake to protect students from anti-gay harassment and discrimination. The agreement is on behalf of a student who was persistently subjected to verbal taunting and physical abuse throughout elementary and middle school based on his gender identity and perceived sexual orientation. The ACLU-NC sought this settlement in light of federal and state laws that allow for school administrators to be held liable if they fail to take adequate measures to remedy anti-LGBT harassment and discrimination.
ACLU Sues Old Dominion Freight Lines Over Firing Of Transgender Trucker (6/18/2008)
KNOXVILLE, TN - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a sex discrimination lawsuit today against Old Dominion Freight Lines for illegally firing a truck driver for impersonating a female after she informed the company that she was transitioning from male to female. A prior EEOC investigation into the firing sided with the driver, Kaylee Seals, finding there was reasonable cause to believe that Old Dominion discriminated against Seals based on sex and sex stereotyping.
ACLU Hosts Weeklong Online Symposium On LGBT Pride (6/16/2008)
NEW YORK – In celebration of LGBT Pride, several of the nation's top lesbian gay bisexual transgender writers, leaders and supporters will participate in an online symposium beginning today on the ACLU Blog of Rights (http://blog.aclu.org) and on the Get Busy, Get Equal blog (www.aclu.org/getequal) featured on the ACLU's LGBT activist toolkit. Participants will be discussing a wide range of issues affecting the LGBT community ranging from the first marriages of lesbian and gay couples in California to the need for a federal law barring workplace discrimination based gender identity and sexual orientation to censorship of LGBT students in the nation's schools.
Nashville High School Students Celebrate Comprehensive Non-Discrimination Policy (6/11/2008)
NASHVILLE, TN – Students are celebrating today after last night’s decision by the Nashville school board to protect students and school employees from gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination. The American Civil Liberties Union also applauds the decision, hailing the hard work and advocacy by students that led to the change.
LGBT Organizations Urge Couples Marrying in California to Make Change, Not Lawsuits (6/10/2008)
NEW YORK - Four LGBT legal organizations and five other leading national LGBT groups have issued a statement entitled "Make Change, Not Lawsuits."
Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Decorated Air Force Major Discharged on Grounds of Sexual Orientation (5/21/2008)
SEATTLE–The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today reinstated a lawsuit challenging the dismissal of Major Margaret Witt, a decorated U.S. Air Force flight nurse, on grounds that she engaged in homosexual conduct. The ACLU is representing Major Witt in appealing a lower court ruling that rejected the suit in July 2006.
Lesbian and Gay Couples Win Freedom to Marry in California (5/15/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court ruled today that the state can no longer exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage.
MCLU Praises Groundbreaking California Decision on Gay Marriage (5/15/2008)
PORTLAND, ME – The MCLU applauds the decision of the California Supreme Court, which ruled today that the state may no longer exclude same-sex couples from marriage.
ACLU Urges LGBT People To Get Busy, Get Equal (5/13/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union launched a new version of its Get Busy, Get Equal online activist toolkit, www.aclu.org/getequal . Get Busy, Get Equal now incorporates new technology to make it easier for LGBT people to work for change in their communities. The website offers tools for ending gay and transgender discrimination, making schools safe, and winning recognition for LGBT relationships.
Federal Judge Rules That Students Cant Be Barred From Expressing Support for Gay People (5/13/2008)
PANAMA CITY, FL – After a two-day trial in which a Florida high school principal testified that he believed clothing or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex, a federal judge today ruled that the school violated students’ First Amendment rights of students. The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a junior at the school who had been forbidden by her principal to wear any sort of clothing, stickers, buttons, or symbols to show her support of equal rights for gay people.
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