Blog of Rights
Ian S.
Thompson

Ian Thompson is a Legislative Representative in the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. In this capacity, Thompson works to advance the organization’s civil liberties and civil rights agenda in Congress and the executive branch by focusing on LGBT rights, HIV/AIDS and sex education. Prior to joining the ACLU in January 2006, Thompson interned in the Washington, D.C., office of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). A 2005 graduate of Penn State University, Thompson holds a degree in International Politics.

05/16/2013
HIV/AIDS

It Is Time to Modernize Discriminatory HIV/AIDS Laws

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Steven Waddy, Legislative Assistant, ACLU at 4:55pm

While science has vastly advanced since the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic more than 30 years ago, the ways in which many criminal laws treat people living with HIV look like throwbacks to the dark days of the past when fear and misinformation about HIV and how it is transmitted were rampant.

There are presently 32 states that have criminal laws that punish people for exposing another person to HIV, even in the absence of actual HIV transmission or even a meaningful risk that transmission could occur.

Read More»
05/15/2013
ENDA

Momentum Continues to Build for Narrowing ENDA's Religious Exemption

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:28pm

The momentum behind efforts – strongly supported by the ACLU – to narrow the current sweeping, unprecedented religious exemption...

Read More»
05/07/2013
ENDA

Senator Portman, ENDA's Religious Exemption Is Already Too Broad

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:18pm

At an event hosted by BuzzFeed on Monday night, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said that he totally supports the concept of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) because, "This is about discrimination in the workplace. And there should be no discrimination and there ought to be a law in place, in my view."

Read More»
05/03/2013
ENDA

The LA Times Agrees – ENDA’s Religious Exemption Must Be Narrowed

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:08am

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Times published a powerful editorial arguing that a blank check for religiously affiliated organizations – far beyond houses of worship – to discriminate in employment against LGBT people should not be the price paid to enact the long-sought and critically important Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

Read More»
04/30/2013
Employment Discrimination

Why ENDA's Religious Exemption Must Be Narrowed

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Dena Sher, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:21am

Remarkably, there are only 16 states that currently have workplace non-discrimination laws that are fully inclusive of LGBT people. This leaves LGBT people vulnerable to workplace discrimination in well over half of the country–an unacceptable situation that must be changed.

To address this, last week, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was reintroduced in Congress. The legislation would prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in most American workplaces, a critically important step towards full equality for LGBT people.

Read More»
04/18/2013
SNDA

The Single Most Important Step Congress Could Take to Improve the Lives of LGBT Students

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:48am

For those who work each and every day to secure basic fairness and equality under the law for LGBT Americans, the pace of positive...

Read More»
03/05/2013
Defense of Marriage Act

Historic Shift in Congress against DOMA Mirrors Shift in Public Opinion in Favor of Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:24am

On Friday, 212 members of Congress, 172 representatives and 40 senators, filed an historic brief in support of Edie Windsor's challenge to the discriminatory and unconstitutional so-called Defense of Marriage Act's (DOMA) exclusion of married same-sex couples from marriage-based federal responsibilities and rights.

Read More»
02/20/2013
LGBT Discrimination in the Workplace

The Drumbeat for LGBT Non-Discrimination Executive Order Grows Louder

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 2:22pm

Coming on the heels of a letter from 37 U.S. senators, a coalition of national civil rights, religious, professional, labor, civic and...

Read More»
02/14/2013
LGBT Discrimination in the Workplace

37 Senators to President Obama – The Time to Ban LGBT Discrimination by Federal Contractors Is NOW

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:31pm

Today, 37 members of the U.S. Senate – led by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) – sent a letter to the White House urging President Obama to issue an executive order to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity by federal contractors. The senators, all of whom are supporters of the long sought Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), rightly describe the executive order as a "critical step that you can take today toward ending discrimination in the workplace."

Read More»
01/22/2013
LGBT News

Following Historic Speech, Working to Realize the Promise of LGBT Equality Under the Law

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:02pm

President Obama made history on Monday by infusing his second inaugural address with a clarion call for LGBT equality under the law. First, he linked the equality struggles for women’s rights, African American civil rights, and LGBT rights through the eloquent statement that:

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall…

Read More»
Statistics image