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ACLU of San Diego Secures Landmark Settlement in Boy Scout Lease Case (01/08/2004)
SAN DIEGO -- The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties today announced a settlement with the City Council here in its 2000 lawsuit challenging the city's subsidy of the Desert Pacific Boy Scout Council through preferential leases for public land in Balboa Park and Fiesta Island Aquatic Park.

Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction in Lawsuit Challenging California Domestic Partnership Law (12/18/2003)
SACRAMENTO- A Superior Court judge today refused to stand in the way of a new state law that offers same-sex couples legal protections and imposes many responsibilities for their relationships. Judge Thomas M. Cecil denied requests by Senator Pete Knight and Randy Thomasson of Campaign for California Families to issue a preliminary injunction, which would prevent the state from putting the law into effect.

ACLU Appears Before Kansas Appeals Court on Behalf of Youth Serving 15 Additional Years in Prison Because He is Gay (12/02/2003)
TOPEKA, KS - Appearing before the Kansas Court of Appeals today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the court to follow the U.S. Supreme Court's recent gay rights case, Lawrence v. Texas, and reduce the sentence of a young man serving an additional 15 years in prison solely because he is gay. The case was sent back to the Kansas court for reconsideration by the Supreme Court immediately following its decision in Lawrence this past June.

ACLU Urges Montana High Court to Require State University System to Offer Domestic Partner Benefits to Gay Employees (11/13/2003)
MISSOULA, MT - The American Civil Liberties Union appeared before the Montana Supreme Court today to ask the court to require the University of Montana System to give lesbian and gay employees the option of purchasing health insurance and other employee benefits for their domestic partners.

Judge Allows Transgender Discrimination Claims to Go Forward in Lawsuit Over Illegal Eviction of Latino AIDS Agency (10/15/2003)
NEW YORK - A judge has freed the way for the Hispanic AIDS Forum, New York's largest Latino AIDS service provider, to proceed to trial in a case against its former landlord for transgender discrimination, the American Civil Liberties Union announced today.

Following ACLU Lawsuit, Lesbian Illegally Fired from Washington Hospital Receives Generous Settlement (10/08/2003)
PULLMAN, WA - A local hospital and a doctor who worked there have agreed to pay a former employee $75,000 for harassing and illegally firing her solely because she is a lesbian. The American Civil Liberties Union, which successfully litigated the employee's lawsuit last year, said the case has helped establish important precedents protecting lesbian and gay government employees from anti-gay discrimination.

ACLU, SLDN and Lambda Legal Urge Military's Highest Court to Strike Down Law Banning Consensual Sodomy (10/02/2003)
WASHINGTON -- Just months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all laws prohibiting consensual sodomy in the nation, the American Civil Liberties Union, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund are urging the military's highest court to strike a similar law from its code of conduct.

ACLU Fires Back at Kansas Attorney General in Latest Round over 17-Year Prison Sentence of Bisexual Teenager (10/02/2003)
TOPEKA, KS - Responding to the state's support of a 17-year prison sentence in the case of a bisexual teenager who had consensual oral sex with another male teenager, the American Civil Liberties Union will file legal papers with a state appeals court tomorrow. The ACLU disputes Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline's assertions that the state should be able to sentence gay and straight teen offenders differently.

ACLU Asks Kansas Court to Overturn 17-Year Prison Sentence of Bisexual Teenager (08/11/2003)
TOPEKA, KS - Arguing that excluding gay teenagers from the Kansas "Romeo and Juliet" law is unconstitutional after the recent Supreme Court decision striking down sodomy laws, the American Civil Liberties Union today asked a state appeals court to free a bisexual teenager who is serving 17 years in prison for having oral sex with another young man.

Kansas Public Library Concedes That it Can't Censor Employee for Discussing Historic Sodomy Ruling (08/05/2003)
TOPEKA, KS - Responding to a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library has conceded that, under the law, it cannot forbid one of its employees from talking at work about the recent historic Supreme Court ruling banning sodomy laws.

Supreme Court Gay Rights Ruling Advances ACLU's Lawsuit Against University of Pittsburgh Over Gay Employee Benefits (07/29/2003)
PITTSBURGH - In its seven-year gay-rights battle to force the University of Pittsburgh to provide healthcare benefits to gay employees' domestic partners, the American Civil Liberties Union today advised the trial court that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last month in Lawrence v. Texas requires it to reject the University's most recent attempt to end the litigation.

Supreme Court Intervenes on Behalf of Kansas Youth Serving 17-Year Prison Sentence Because He's Gay (06/27/2003)
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court today ordered the case of a young gay man back to a Kansas appeals court for further consideration in light of yesterday's historic ruling on sexual intimacy. The American Civil Liberties Union represents Matthew Limon in this appeal.

ACLU of Hawai'i Files Lawsuit Over Exclusion of Gay Groups From "Family Day" Parade (06/27/2003)
HONOLULU-The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i today filed a lawsuit against city and county officials and a local Christian group for conspiring to exclude gay groups from the Family Day Parade scheduled to take place on July 5.

ACLU Challenges Queens Landlord's Claim That Transgender People Are Not Entitled to Use Bathrooms or Common Areas of Building (06/26/2003)
NEW YORK -- In arguments before a state supreme court judge tomorrow, the American Civil Liberties Union is urging the court to reject a landlord's claim that he was justified in refusing to let transgender clients with the Hispanic AIDS Forum (HAF) use any of the building's restrooms or common areas of the building.

Striking Down Texas Law Against Same-Sex "Sodomy," Supreme Court Rights Egregious Wrong of 17 Years, Signaling New Era for Gay Rights (06/26/2003)
WASHINGTON - In an historic decision with wide-ranging implications, the U.S. Supreme Court today struck down a Texas law that makes some kinds of sexual intimacy a crime, but only for gay people. The decision overrules the court's 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which was widely condemned for treating gay people as second-class citizens. It was hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union as a major milestone in the fight for constitutional rights.

Following Historic Supreme Court Ruling in Texas Sodomy Case, ACLU Urges LGBT People to "Get Busy, Get Equal" (06/26/2003)
NEW YORK - In response to the Supreme Court's decision striking a down Texas law that made some types of sexual intimacy a crime for gay people, the American Civil Liberties Union today launched a national campaign to urge lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their supporters to take advantage of this historic moment by pushing for equality. The ACLU has developed a new website, www.aclu.org/getequal, that provides tools for fighting anti-gay discrimination, making schools safer for LGBT youth and getting equality for LGBT relationships.

Ashcroft's Refusal to Let Gay Group Meet Violates Promise to Congress, ACLU Says (06/06/2003)
NEW YORK -- The Justice Department's refusal to allow its gay employee group to meet violates an explicit promise Attorney General John Ashcroft made at his confirmation hearing, the American Civil Liberties Union charged today, and also violates the department's own discrimination policy.