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04/18/2011

Just A Smack On The Ass: A Tale Of Sexual Assault, Vengeance And Nervous Swearing

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 10:56am

Last month, the ACLU's Louise Melling blogged about how street harassment shames and humiliates women, and is underreported because of the stigma attached to it. While that blog was making the editing rounds here at the office, I shared my own story of how I dealt with a particularly obnoxious harasser, and my esteemed colleagues suggested I share it. Since April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, after all, here it is. And there's gonna be swearing. I'm really sorry in advance (Mom).

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11/17/2011
Using Religion to Discriminate

ACLU Lens: Using Religion as an Excuse for Discrimination

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 12:21pm

This week, the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops is holding its annual meeting in Baltimore. The bishops are the lobbying arm of the Catholic church, and they hold substantial sway over lawmakers. But instead of focusing on issues like poverty or the economy, the bishops are instead complaining loudly that recent laws broadening women’s access to contraception and granting same-sex couples the freedom to marry amount to an assault on their religion.

However, as this Media Matters piece attests, this is hardly the case.

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07/13/2012
Single-Sex Education

ACLU Lens: National Scrutiny of Single-Sex Programs Based on Stereotypes

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 1:55pm

This week, the Associated Press reported on our “Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes” campaign challenging unlawful single-sex education programs around the country.

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06/08/2012
Defense of Marriage Act

"Honey, We Did It!" – Edie Windsor Says Thank You

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 4:41pm

Yesterday, Edie Windsor visited the ACLU and NYCLU offices to address the media after her amazing victory in her challenge against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. Edie filed a lawsuit with the help of the ACLU and the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP against the government after the death of her spouse and partner of 44 years, Thea Spyer. 

 

 

Edie told the press about her lifelong love with Thea during which they were engaged for 40 years, and officially married for two. After Thea’s death, Edie was forced to pay over $363,000 in federal estate taxes that she would not have had to pay if she were married to a man. The government regarded Edie and Thea as legal strangers.

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03/02/2012
Student Rights in School

Victory in Haywood! Anti-Gay, Proselytizing Principal Resigns Hours After Public Outcry.

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 11:34am

The Jackson Sun reports that Dorothy Bond has resigned as the principal of Haywood High School in Haywood, Tennessee, after reports surfaced that she said gay students are “not on God’s path” and threatened to expel them if they publicly showed affection for members of the same sex. The ACLU also received reports that Haywood High School Principal Dorothy Bond not only made discriminatory remarks about LGBT people, but also told students that “life is over” for girls who became pregnant. We sent a letter to the superintendent yesterday afternoon asking the school to clarify students’ rights. Within hours, Bond was out.

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01/19/2012
Department Of Defense

ACLU Lens: Addressing Sexual Assault in the Military

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 2:11pm

Today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made it clear that reducing assault and providing adequate care to victims would be a top priority.

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10/18/2011
Single-Sex Education

ACLU Lens: Sex-Segregated Education Will Not Cure Our Ailing Schools

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 4:47pm

Galen Sherwin of the ACLU Women's Rights Project was recently featured in the New York Times' Online Room for Debate discussing the drawbacks to sex-segregated education in public schools. Galen's essay was one of seven featured in the debate, which included educators and legal experts from both sides of the issue.

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07/16/2010

Respecting Women's Decisions

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 4:45pm

On Wednesday, a federal judge sensibly blocked a Nebraska law that not only would have placed unnecessary obstacles in front of women seeking abortions, but also demonstrated a profoundly patronizing view of women who decide that abortion is the right decision for their circumstances.

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05/31/2012
Defense of Marriage Act

ACLU Lens: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down DOMA

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 12:15pm

A federal appeals court in Massachusetts ruled today that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it denies married same-sex couples the same federal benefits available to other married couples.

The case, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, was originally filed by GLAD on behalf of several married same-sex couples and widowers in Massachusetts in 2009. In 2010, a federal judge found that DOMA violated the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment. Today’s decision upholds that ruling.

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04/29/2010

Mojave Cross: The Fight Goes On

By Robyn Shepherd, ACLU at 3:15pm

Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling in the case Salazar vs. Buono — concerning a cross in the Mojave National Preserve that has been designated as a national memorial — wasn’t quite what we were hoping for, but was also encouraging in some respects. The question of whether or not the government’s sale of the land on which the cross sits to a private veterans’ organization remedies a violation of the Establishment Clause has been sent back to district court. The Supreme Court found that the lower court used the wrong legal standard in deciding to invalidate a transfer of the land on which the cross stands to private ownership. But the opinion does leave the door open to reaching a favorable outcome in the case, and, more importantly, does not preclude private citizens from challenging the constitutionality of religious displays on government property in the future.

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