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.

05/13/2011
DADT

If They Could Turn Back Time – on DADT Repeal

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:59pm

Late on Wednesday evening, the House Armed Services Committee adopted a series of harmful amendments designed to delay, derail and turn back the clock on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) repeal implementation. The amendments were added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012.

One amendment would delay repeal implementation by expanding the repeal law's certification requirements to include each service chief for each branch of the armed forces. The law currently stipulates that the repeal will not take effect until President Obama, the secretary of defense, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that the new law will not have a negative impact on readiness, recruitment, retention, and other key factors affecting the military. Expanding the number of officials required for certification is simply an effort to slow the process down, and something that has been strongly opposed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

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05/04/2011

Labor Department Delivers for Trans Federal Employees

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:30am

Late last week, the U.S. Department of Labor took an important step forward for its transgender employees by adding gender identity to the department's internal equal employment opportunity (EEO) policies. The Labor Department will now explicitly prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity, as well as pregnancy, under existing bans on sex discrimination.

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04/15/2011

"Defend" Marriage by Respecting Marriages

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

This morning, the majority on the House Judiciary Committee’s Constitution Subcommittee convened a hearing entitled “Defending Marriage.” The hearing was little more than an opportunity for Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) supporters in Congress, and anti-LGBT activists, to vent their frustration with the Obama administration for (correctly) concluding that a critical section of DOMA is unconstitutional, and would no longer be defended by the Department of Justice in court. Ironically enough, someone must have forgotten to pass along the message, because almost no pro-DOMA committee members showed up. If the hearing was intended to demonstrate the support of the House of Representatives for DOMA, it was a complete and total flop (the Waterworld of congressional hearings if you will).

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01/27/2011

Attacking the Freedom to Marry in D.C.

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:54pm

In a story first reported in The Hill on Tuesday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chairman of the conservative 175-member House Republican Study Committee (RSC), said that the RSC planned to push for a vote in the current Congress to ban gay and lesbian couples from being able to marry in the District of Columbia, rolling back the clock on equality, liberty, and democratic decisionmaking in our nation's capital.

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01/24/2011

Stamping Out LGBT Discrimination in Housing

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 6:08pm

Today the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a proposed rule regarding equal access to HUD housing programs regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Among the aims of the rule is a prohibition on inquires regarding sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as a prohibition on using sexual orientation or gender identity as grounds for decision-making in Federal Housing Administration (FHA) programs. Additionally, the rule clarifies that "eligible families" include those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT).

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01/21/2011
DADT

DADT – The High Cost of Senseless Discrimination

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:25pm

On Thursday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on the impact of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy in terms of lost personnel and cost to the government from 2004-09. The report underlines the importance of the actions Congress and President Obama took in the closing days of 2010 in voting to repeal this ugly relic of history and signing the repeal legislation into law.

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01/13/2011
Using Religion to Discriminate

Birth Control: Who Decides? The Bishops or You?

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:09am

Yesterday I spoke before the Committee on Prevention Services for Women at the Institute of Medicine on the critical importance of covering birth control as a preventive service in health care. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will soon be issuing guidelines on what constitutes preventive care for women. Groups like the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Family Research Council and Alliance Defense Fund are trying to stop HHS from including birth control on the list of covered preventive services. They claim that insurance coverage of birth control is a religious matter. The ACLU strongly believes that birth control should be included among these important services and that first and foremost birth control is a personal, private decision that should be made by a woman in consultation with her doctor.

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12/21/2010
DADT

Republicans — The Final Nail in DADT’s Coffin

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:15pm

Following Saturday’s historic Senate vote to repeal the discriminatory and unconstitutional “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, I was struck by the undeniable fact that it was Republican support in Congress that ultimately helped to put the final nail in the coffin of this outdated law.

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12/14/2010
DADT

DADT Repeal Bills Await Congressional Action

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:20pm

The Senate is about to vote on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The bill has already passed the House with an overwhelming bipartisan majority.  There is simply no excuse for further delay."

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12/13/2010
DADT

The Struggle to Repeal DADT Continues

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:48pm

Last week, the U.S. Senate tried — and failed — to begin debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, preventing the repeal of the discriminatory and unconstitutional "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy from advancing in the Senate — despite the support of a majority of senators and the personal pleas of President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen.

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