Home : Lesbian & Gay Rights

ACLU Joins New Orleans Gay Pride Festivities (06/26/2008)
New Orleans - This weekend, the American Civil Liberties Union will participate in New Orleans's Gay Pride festival to support the LGBT community and to call attention to the discrimination lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face throughout Louisiana.

ACLU Applauds First-Ever Congressional Hearing on Gender Identity in the Workplace (06/26/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Heath, Employment, Labor, and Pensions for holding the first-ever congressional hearing on transgender issues and gender identity discrimination in the workplace. Chaired by Representative Robert Andrews (D-NJ), the committee heard from retired Army Colonel and ACLU client Diane Schroer. The ACLU is currently representing Schroer in a Title VII sex discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress.

Settlement With Lake County School District Calls For Comprehensive Approach To Protecting Students From Anti-Gay Harassment (06/25/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO — The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) has reached a settlement with the Upper Lake Union School District that contains a comprehensive series of steps the district will undertake to protect students from anti-gay harassment and discrimination. The agreement is on behalf of a student who was persistently subjected to verbal taunting and physical abuse throughout elementary and middle school based on his gender identity and perceived sexual orientation. The ACLU-NC sought this settlement in light of federal and state laws that allow for school administrators to be held liable if they fail to take adequate measures to remedy anti-LGBT harassment and discrimination.

ACLU Sues Old Dominion Freight Lines Over Firing Of Transgender Trucker (06/18/2008)
KNOXVILLE, TN - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a sex discrimination lawsuit today against Old Dominion Freight Lines for illegally firing a truck driver for impersonating a female after she informed the company that she was transitioning from male to female. A prior EEOC investigation into the firing sided with the driver, Kaylee Seals, finding there was reasonable cause to believe that Old Dominion discriminated against Seals based on sex and sex stereotyping.

ACLU Hosts Weeklong Online Symposium On LGBT Pride (06/16/2008)
NEW YORK – In celebration of LGBT Pride, several of the nation's top lesbian gay bisexual transgender writers, leaders and supporters will participate in an online symposium beginning today on the ACLU Blog of Rights (http://blog.aclu.org) and on the Get Busy, Get Equal blog (www.aclu.org/getequal) featured on the ACLU's LGBT activist toolkit. Participants will be discussing a wide range of issues affecting the LGBT community ranging from the first marriages of lesbian and gay couples in California to the need for a federal law barring workplace discrimination based gender identity and sexual orientation to censorship of LGBT students in the nation's schools.

Nashville High School Students Celebrate Comprehensive Non-Discrimination Policy (06/11/2008)
NASHVILLE, TN – Students are celebrating today after last night’s decision by the Nashville school board to protect students and school employees from gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination. The American Civil Liberties Union also applauds the decision, hailing the hard work and advocacy by students that led to the change.

LGBT Organizations Urge Couples Marrying in California to "Make Change, Not Lawsuits" (06/10/2008)
NEW YORK - Four LGBT legal organizations and five other leading national LGBT groups have issued a statement entitled "Make Change, Not Lawsuits."

Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Decorated Air Force Major Discharged on Grounds of Sexual Orientation (05/21/2008)
SEATTLE–The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today reinstated a lawsuit challenging the dismissal of Major Margaret Witt, a decorated U.S. Air Force flight nurse, on grounds that she engaged in homosexual conduct. The ACLU is representing Major Witt in appealing a lower court ruling that rejected the suit in July 2006.

Lesbian and Gay Couples Win Freedom to Marry in California (05/15/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court ruled today that the state can no longer exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage.

MCLU Praises Groundbreaking California Decision on Gay Marriage (05/15/2008)
PORTLAND, ME – The MCLU applauds the decision of the California Supreme Court, which ruled today that the state may no longer exclude same-sex couples from marriage.