About the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project
ACLU
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender
& AIDS Project
125 Broad
Street
New York, NY 10004
212-549-2627
getequal@aclu.org
Founded in 1986, the Lesbian & Gay Rights Project and AIDS Project are a special division of the American Civil Liberties Union. The combined Project staff are experts in constitutional law and civil rights, specializing in sexual orientation, gender identity, and HIV.
What We Do
The 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 and those with HIV/AIDS. In coalition with other civil rights groups, we also lobby in Congress and support grassroots advocacy from local school boards to state legislatures. Our legal strategies are built on the idea that fighting for civil rights means not just persuading judges but ultimately changing the way people think. As we litigate for change, we implement targeted media, online, and outreach campaigns to change public attitudes through education and to give people on the frontlines the tools they need to act.
Issues We Care About
Parenting
Protecting the rights of LGBT parents and their children is
central to achieving equality for all LGBT people. We work to remove all
discriminatory restrictions on parenting by challenging laws that ban LGBT
people from adopting or becoming foster parents, and fighting the penalties that
gay parents face in child custody and visitation. Our work exposes how limits on
LGBT parenting hurt kids, debunks myths about same-sex couples raising children,
and promotes the diversity of our families.
Marriage and Relationships
The ACLU works for full legal recognition of
LGBT relationships through domestic partnerships, civil unions, and, ultimately,
marriage. Our cases prove that same-sex couples are harmed when their
relationships are not protected through marriage. All couples should be able to
access the benefits and responsibilities of legally recognized relationships,
such as health insurance, unemployment compensation, immigration status, family
leave, inheritance, hospital visitation, and much more.
Youth and Schools
Our schools program is a special initiative to make
schools safe and bias-free for LGBT kids and teachers. For students, this
includes the right to free expression, to establish gay-straight alliance clubs,
to bring a same-sex date to the prom, and to be taught in an environment
respectful of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Gender Identity
The ACLU fights for the rights of transgender and gender
nonconforming people in employment, schools, and public accommodations. We
believe that transgender people's relationships should be recognized and legally
protected. Similarly, we help ensure that gender identity is not used against
transgender parents in custody and visitation determinations. We work to
include gender identity in state and local anti-discrimination policies, conduct
outreach to transgender youth and students on their legal rights, and develop
public education campaigns that raise awareness of the types of harms
transgender people face.
Discrimination
Protecting basic civil rights is at the heart of everything we do. The Project fought for years to bring down state sodomy laws. Our anti-discrimination activities include employment, housing and public accommodations, criminal justice reform, and the abolition of biased laws and regulations. We advocate for local and federal non-discrimination laws and insist that religious beliefs cannot be used to justify bias.
HIV/AIDS
People should not be deprived of the basic constitutional protections of equality, privacy, and free expression simply because they have HIV. The Project is fighting to eliminate discrimination against people with HIV in employment, especially in sensitive jobs such as health care, food service, and residential and nursing facilities. We help ensure that parent’s rights are not violated simply because of his or her HIV status. The Project also fights against censorship of AIDS prevention education.
The ACLU
America's foremost advocate of individual rights, the American Civil Liberties Union is a nonpartisan organization founded in 1920. With national headquarters in New York and Washington and 52 affiliates throughout the country, the ACLU is widely regarded as the nation's premier public interest law firm. The ACLU believes that the only way to protect freedom is to stand fast for the idea that everyone, no matter how unpopular, has the same rights.
As a part of the ACLU, the Project is in a unique position to advocate for fairness and equality. The ACLU's national network of affiliates broadens the Project's reach into every locality and into the federal government. Today, the ACLU brings more LGBT cases and advocacy initiatives than any other national civil rights organization. As part of the broad civil liberties agenda of the ACLU, the Project brings together the LGBT and AIDS communities to work in concert with other social change movements in order to achieve a just society for all.