American Civil Liberties Union

Over a decade ago, I had the great honor to be part of a team representing Betty Dukes, an employee at Wal-Mart who had received unfair treatment at her job and had decided to do something about it. Betty soon became the face of a large class of women who worked at Wal-Mart and faced similar types of discrimination in the workplace. These women banded together, from all across the country, to take on sex discrimination at one of the world’s largest employers—and through it all, Betty Dukes remained at the forefront fighting for justice. “In this life,” said Betty, “you have to stand up or be trampled.”  The ACLU co-authored a brief before the Supreme Court, joined by a large number of civil rights groups, highlighting the gender stereotypes that the women were banding together to challenge.

By Kelli Evans, Associate Director of the ACLU of Northern California

ACLU Nor Cal’s Associate Director tells the story of how she responded when her 8-year-old daughter asked if lesbians were going to be banned and what would happen to their family.

Originally posted by the ACLU of Norther California.

Last February, we cheered and cried with our friends and allies when Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire signed a bill that grants civil marriage to all loving, committed same-sex couples. But even as we celebrated, we knew that the opponents of marriage equality would continue to fight. Washington law allows the opponents of a piece of legislation to take their case to the voters by gathering enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot. A “yes” vote on the referendum is a vote to protect the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.  A “no” vote on the referendum is a vote to exclude same-sex couples from marriage."

There are 2.1 million of us. Then, there are our parents, friends, and neighbors—courageous, hardworking undocumented Americans. Together, we are 11.2 million. We’ve met and overcome great hardship.