Know Your Disability Rights with Zoe Brennan-Krohn and Nicole Jorwic

The ACLU’s new Congressional Scorecard tracks how federal elected officials are voting on key legislation affecting core civil rights and constitutional freedoms.

SEATTLE – Attorneys for Gather Church today announced that Lewis County has repealed a local ordinance that prevented the church, a ministry devoted to helping people with substance use disorder, from providing critical, lifesaving harm reduction services through its syringe services program. The repeal is the result of a settlement agreement reached after the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Dec. 31 blocked enforcement of the ordinance, finding that the ordinance likely violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and state laws that permit and encourage harm reduction services. Gather Church is represented by American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Washington (ACLU-WA), and law firm Kaplan & Grady. The settlement agreement reached by the parties includes a total repeal of the ordinance, which Lewis County has done today. Now that the ordinance is repealed, Gather Church can resume its mobile syringe services program and distribute lifesaving supplies like test kits for fentanyl and xylazine, and the federal court case against Lewis County will be dismissed. The settlement also includes $500,000 in attorney's fees. “The harm reduction program at Gather Church is effective, and it saves lives. We are thrilled that our mobile clinic and distribution program can resume. Serving the community is a core part of Gather’s religious mission, and we won’t stop meeting people where they are,” said Cole Meckle, pastor at Gather Church. Harm reduction services use non-judgmental strategies to minimize the negative health, social, and legal consequences associated with substance use. In 2019, Gather opened a mobile SSP that offered sterile syringes to people who would otherwise share unsterile syringes, along with other vital health services such as nursing assessments, mental health assessments, wound care, and connection to treatment and medical services, to name a few. The program is supported by a grant from the Washington State Department of Health and built on decades of research showing that SSPs save lives, reduce the transmission of disease, facilitate access to drug rehabilitation, and do not increase drug use or local crime. “The total repeal of this discriminatory ordinance is a victory not only for the recipients of harm reduction services, but for the community writ large. Harm reduction benefits everyone by reducing disease transmissions and overdoses, and it should be encouraged—not banned,” said Malhar Shah, staff attorney with the ACLU Disability Rights Program. “Pastor Cole and Gather offer care and compassion to people who Lewis County would otherwise turn its back on. This settlement is a victory for harm reduction providers and others who insist on uplifting our shared humanity,” said Tara Urs, staff attorney with ACLU-WA. “By halting Lewis County’s discriminatory ordinance, the court recognized the civil rights of faith-based and secular harm-reduction providers who deliver life-saving health care and dignity to people all too often marginalized by their communities ,” said David Howard Sinkman of Kaplan & Grady.  

WASHINGTON – Four organizations advocating for the civil rights of survivors of military sexual trauma (MST) filed a friend-of-the-court brief today urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reverse a lower court decision denying expedited adjudication of veterans’ benefits to people with mental health disabilities arising from sexual violence in the military. The organizations filing the amicus brief, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Protect Our Defenders Foundation, Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), and the Victim Rights Law Center, are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. “Survivors of military sexual trauma have already endured profound harm in service to our country, it is an insult upon injury that they are being forced to endure years of bureaucratic delay to receive the benefits Congress expressly promised them,” said Josh Connolly, senior vice president of Protect Our Defenders Foundation. “Congress was unequivocal when it passed the Dignity for MST Survivors Act: claims involving military sexual trauma must be expedited. Ignoring that mandate not only defies the law, it retraumatizes survivors and further undermines trust in the system meant to protect them.” In December 2022, Congress passed legislation requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve its treatment of MST survivors, including the Dignity for MST Survivors Act which mandates the VA to expedite administrative appeals involving MST. Yet the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims ruled in a case brought by Karissa Wiggins that it would not enforce this duty. “Survivors of military sexual trauma experienced the violence while in service to our country,” said Stacy Malone, executive director of Victim Rights Law Center. “It is unconscionable that victims are being denied timely access to benefits that would help them heal and rebuild their lives.” The brief explains that timely access to benefits is critical for veterans with disabilities stemming from MST, affording survivors who require costly treatment or are unable to work the financial support they need. It also explains that expedited adjudication and appeals encourage survivors to report MST and is consistent with Congress’ intent to make compensation for survivors more readily available. “Congress passed the Dignity for MST Survivors Act nearly unanimously with a crystal-clear mandate: to improve the treatment of victims of military sexual trauma. By denying prompt review of these claims, our government is breaking the promise Congress made to care for those who have served,” said Brad Adams, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Disability Rights Program. Finally, the brief highlights that women and LGBTQ veterans are overrepresented among survivors, bearing the brunt of a dysfunctional claims process, while stigma and implicit biases infect the claims of men and Black veterans, who are more likely to have their claims denied. “Timely access to benefits can be the difference between stability and crisis for survivors of military sexual trauma. Congress recognized this reality when it required expedited review of MST claims. Failing to enforce that law undermines both survivor dignity and congressional intent,” said SWAN’s CEO and President Elisa Cardnell. The brief is available here: https://www.aclu.org/cases/karissa-wiggins-v-douglas-collins?document=Amicus-Brief