Earlier in the season, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) declared this the "Summer for Marriage," and launched a cross-country bus tour to persuade the public that allowing same-sex couples to marry would be really bad. According to most reports, not all that many people were eager to jump on board, and some say it was really just a sham.
But NOM did get one thing right: this has indeed been the summer for marriage.
ACLU client Constance McMillen made headlines this spring when her Mississippi high school took the extraordinary step of canceling the school prom rather than allow her to go with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. But as humiliating as that experience was — she was eventually sent to a "decoy" prom that was attended by only a few other students while the rest of her classmates attended a private prom 30 miles away — McMillen has reason to be proud of this pride season. This evening she will join President Obama at a White House ceremony recognizing the contributions of LGBT Americans. Sunday, she will be a grand marshal in New York City's pride celebration. She has also been asked to participate in pride celebrations in Los Angeles and San Diego, and is the guest of honor this Friday night at the "All Love, All Woodstock" party in Woodstock, N.Y.
The ACLU filed an appeal brief last Friday in its lawsuit against a Louisiana school district that segregates students by sex. The ACLU is representing two girls who attend the Rene A. Rost Middle School in Vermilion Parish School District in Kaplan, Louisiana. Two weeks before classes were to begin last fall, the mother of our clients learned that the school would be segregating the students by sex in all of the core curriculum classes in all grades in the school.
Today the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could have serious implications for the laws we have created to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in society.
The central question raised in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez is whether a public university, the University of California's Hastings College of the Law, can be forced to officially recognize and provide funds to clubs that violate the school's nondiscrimination policy. Although Hastings allows the Christian Legal Society (CLS) to meet and recruit on campus, the group is claiming that it should be entitled to official club status and its share of the small amount of money set aside for school clubs even though it denies membership to anyone — even fellow Christians — who doesn't follow the club's view of Christianity, which includes the belief that gay conduct is sinful.
On April 15, the Texas State Board of Education released amendments to the state's social studies curriculum that essentially rewrite history to comport with the personal ideological and religious beliefs of some members of the board.
Today, the LGBT Project and the ACLU of Northern California sent a letter to Fresno City College demanding that the college do something about the anti-gay preaching of health science professor Dr. Bradley Lopez. In his introductory health class last semester, Professor Lopez presented his personal religious beliefs and anti-gay opinions as "science" or "fact."
As you get ready to celebrate the holidays, we hope you will consider giving the gift of LGBT equality by having three conversations with friends and family members about what it means to be LGBT. Opinion research shows that people are much more likely to support equality when they’ve had an opportunity to get to know what it really means for someone to be LGBT. The best way to let others what it’s like is through personal conversations. And no, you don’t have to be LGBT to have these conversations. You can talk about LGBT people you’ve known.
Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, California, has agreed to make policy changes and conduct staff trainings to ensure that the rights of its LGBT patients and family members are properly respected. The changes are being made in response to a demand letter by American Civil Liberties Union and the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of a lesbian who was barred from visiting her partner and giving advice about her treatment at the hospital.
ACLU client 
