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The LGBT Project brings impact lawsuits in state and federal courts throughout the country— cases designed to have a significant effect on the lives of LGBT people. > > Learn More > Child Advocacy Groups Urge Florida Appeals Court To Strike Gay Adoption Ban > Fresno Hospital Bars Lesbian From Visiting Partner And Giving Advice About Her Treatment > New Web Campaign, Tell-Three.org, Encourages People to Talk About What it Means to be LGBT The LGBT Project fights discrimination and moves public opinion on LGBT rights through the courts, legislatures and public education across five issue areas: RELATIONSHIPS – Since the first marriage lawsuit for same-sex couples in 1972, the ACLU has been at the forefront of both legal and public education efforts to secure marriage for same-sex couples and win legal recognition for LGBT relationships. SCHOOLS & YOUTH – The LGBT Project’s Schools & Youth program defends free expression in public schools, demands that learning environments do not encourage bullying and violence, and helps educators create an atmosphere respectful of students’ sexual orientation and gender identity. PARENTING – The ACLU is committed to defending the rights of LGBT parents, not only in custody and visitation arrangements but also by challenging discriminatory laws that restrict the rights of LGBT people to parent. TRANSGENDER – The ACLU works to include gender identity in nondiscrimination laws, raises awareness of the types of harms that transgender people face, and brings impact lawsuits to change biased laws against transgender people in employment, schools, and public accommodations. DISCRIMINATION – Since the 1950s, the ACLU has been defending LGBT people from discrimination. Over the years, the ACLU has fought LGBT discrimination on several fronts—from challenging “sodomy” laws to advocating for civil rights that protect LGBT people.

DOJ Will Not Appeal Veterans Victory In Transgender Discrimination Case (7/1/2009)
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Justice decided not to appeal a federal court ruling awarding transgender veteran Diane Schroer the maximum compensation for the discrimination she suffered after being refused a job with the Library of Congress. The deadline for seeking an appeal was June 30. The American Civil Liberties Union has represented Schroer in her case.

House Bill Announced Today To Ban Workplace Discrimination Based On Gender Or Sexual Orientation (6/24/2009)
WASHINGTON – Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) announced the introduction of a bill today that would make workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity illegal. As a long time defender of the civil rights and civil liberties of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, the American Civil Liberties Union urges Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). If the group of bipartisan co-sponsors, including the Chairmen of the Judiciary and Education and Labor Committees successfully pass this legislation, it would become the first-ever ban on employment discrimination of LBGT people.

Child Advocacy Groups Urge Florida Appeals Court To Strike Gay Adoption Ban (6/23/2009)
MIAMI – The most respected Florida and national children’s health, welfare and legal advocacy groups filed seven friend-of-the-court briefs before a Florida appeals court Monday urging the court to strike down a Florida law barring lesbians and gay men from adopting. The briefs were filed in support of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that resulted in a Florida juvenile court judge striking down the law and granting the adoptions of two brothers to a gay man who has been raising the boys with his partner for more than four years.

Virginia Court of Appeals Rejects Latest Effort to Avoid Enforcement of Vermont Custody Orders in Virginia (6/23/2009)
Richmond, VA -- In a long running custody and visitation dispute, the Virginia Court of Appeals today thwarted Lisa Miller's latest attempt to avoid complying with Vermont orders requiring her to grant visitation to her former partner, Janet Jenkins. The Lambda Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU of Virginia represented Janet Jenkins, the non-biological mother, who asked Virginia to honor a Vermont court's ruling, which awarded her visitation rights after the civil union was dissolved.

Fresno Hospital Bars Lesbian From Visiting Partner And Giving Advice About Her Treatment (6/15/2009)
SAN FRANCISCO – After a lesbian was barred from visiting her partner and giving advice about her treatment at a Fresno hospital, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Center for Lesbian Rights sent a letter to the hospital today urging that it adopt policy changes respecting same-sex relationships.

LGBT Legal And Advocacy Groups Decry Obama Administration's Defense of DOMA (6/12/2009)
We are very surprised and deeply disappointed in the manner in which the Obama administration has defended the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in a brief filed today in Smelt v. United States, a lawsuit brought in federal court in California by a married same-sex couple asking the federal government to treat them equally with respect to federal protections and benefits. The administration is using many of the same flawed legal arguments that the Bush administration used. These arguments rightly have been rejected by several state supreme courts as legally unsound and discriminatory.

California School Apologizes For Illegally Banning Sixth Graders Presentation On Harvey Milk (6/9/2009)
RAMONA, CA – A California school has apologized to a sixth grader for illegally censoring her classroom presentation about Harvey Milk last month, and school officials promise they won't engage in unconstitutional restriction of similar free speech in the future. The apology comes after the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter on May 30 to the Ramona Unified School District about its violation of the student’s free speech rights when it refused to allow her to give the presentation in class. Wrongly citing a school policy on sex education, the school had improperly required classmates to get parental permission to see the presentation during a lunch recess.

Tennessee Schools End Censorship Of Gay Educational Web Sites After ACLU Lawsuit (6/4/2009)
NASHVILLE, TN – Dozens of Tennessee schools have restored access to online information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, just over two weeks after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against two Tennessee school districts for unconstitutionally blocking student access to such sites. The company that provides Internet filtering software to as many as 107 Tennessee school districts has adjusted the software to allow access to a variety of educational and political LGBT Web sites that were blocked before the lawsuit was filed.

Immigration Law Denies Equal Protection For Same-Sex Life Partners (6/2/2009)
WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on a bill that modifies U.S. immigration law to provide equal protection to same-sex life partners of citizens and permanent legal residents. As part of the hearing, entitled “The United American Families Act: Addressing Inequality in Federal Immigration Law,” the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to lawmakers urging the Committee to pass S. 424, “Uniting American Families Act.”

Wisconsin Trial Court Dismisses ACLU Lawsuit Seeking Domestic Partner Benefits For Lesbian and Gay State Employees (6/1/2009)
MADISON, WI – On Friday, a Wisconsin trial court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of lesbian state employees and their partners seeking domestic partner health insurance and family leave protections. In a 46 page opinion, the court notes that although it believes it is unconstitutional for the state to continue to deny the employees equal health insurance coverage and family leave protection, it is bound by a prior decision from the Wisconsin Court of Appeals from 1992.

LGBT Organizations Point Out that Lawsuits Could Set Back Progress on Marriage for Same-Sex Couples (5/27/2009)
NEW YORK – In response to the California Supreme Court decision allowing Prop 8 to stand, four LGBT legal organizations and five other leading national LGBT groups are reminding the LGBT community that ill-timed lawsuits could set the fight for marriage back. The groups released a new publication, “Why the ballot box and not the courts should be the next step on marriage in California.” This publication discourages people from bringing premature lawsuits based on the federal Constitution because, without more groundwork, the U.S. Supreme Court likely is not yet ready to rule that same-sex couples cannot be barred from marriage. The groups also revised “Make Change, Not Lawsuits,” which was released after the California Supreme Court decision ending the ban on marriage for same-sex couples in California. This publication encourages couples who have legally married to ask friends, neighbors and institutions to honor their marriages, but discourages people from bringing lawsuits.

Court Upholds Prop 8; State Continues to Recognize 18,000 Marriages (5/26/2009)
SAN FRANCISCO — Today, in a 6 to 1 decision, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the ballot measure that eliminated the right of same sex couples to marry. In the ruling authored by Chief Justice Ronald George, the court stated “We emphasize only that among the various constitutional protections recognized in the Marriage Cases as available to same-sex couples, it is only the designation of marriage — albeit significant — that has been removed by this initiative measure.” At the same time, the court unanimously ruled that the more than 18,000 marriages that took place between June 16 and November 4, 2008 continue to be fully valid and recognized by the state of California. The decision reaffirmed the court’s prior holding that sexual orientation is subject to the highest level of protection under the California Constitution.

California School Bans Sixth Graders Presentation on Harvey Milk (5/20/2009)
RAMONA, CA – Wrongly citing a school policy on sex education, a California school illegally censored a sixth grader’s classroom presentation about Harvey Milk earlier this month. According to a demand letter sent by the American Civil Liberties Union to the Ramona Unified School District today, the school violated Natalie Jones’s free speech rights when it refused to allow her to give the presentation in class. Instead, the school improperly required classmates to get parental permission to see the presentation during a lunch recess.

ACLU Sues To Stop Tennessee Schools From Censoring Gay Educational Web Sites (5/19/2009)
NASHVILLE, TN – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Tennessee sued two Tennessee school districts in federal court today, charging the schools are unconstitutionally blocking students from accessing online information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Knox County Schools and as many as 105 other school districts in Tennessee use Internet filtering software to block Web sites containing pro-LGBT speech, but not Web sites touting so-called "reparative therapy" and "ex-gay" ministries. The "LGBT" filter is not used to block sites containing pornography, which are filtered under a different category, but it does block the sites of many well-known LGBT organizations including Parents, Families, And Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

Marriage Equality Leaders Respond to Release of Petition Question (5/19/2009)
PORTLAND – Supporters of the new state law granting equality in marriage to all Maine couples reacted with confident optimism today after the Secretary of State announced the wording of a ballot question that opponents of the new law will use to launch a petition drive against it.