ACLU Pressures State Senate to Pass Diversity Bill for TV Shows in New York
The ACLU is pushing for a bill that would provide tax relief to TV shows in New York for employing women and people of color as writers and directors.
NY Governor Andrew Cuomo Bans State Travel to North Carolina After Anti-LGBT Law
Last week, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law a draconian bill that repealed every local LGBT anti-discrimination law and requires people to use the bathroom that corresponds with the biological gender written on their birth certificate. Obviously, this has prompted massive backlash.
ACLU, Other LGBT Rights Groups File Lawsuit Over North Carolina's Horrid 'Bathroom Bill'
The American Civil Liberties Union announced Monday that they are suing North Carolina officials over a new law that prevents trans people from using bathrooms that don’t match their biological sex. The law also bans cities and counties from creating anti-discrimination laws. The ACLU is pretty sure the law violates…
NY State Prisons Will Curb Solitary Confinement As Punishment for Prisoners
On Wednesday, New York State correctional system announced an upcoming overhaul of their solitary confinement process. As one of the largest prison systems in America, this move could signal a trend for the rest of America, if shifts go according to plan.
Government Says Allowing Chelsea Manning to Grow Her Hair Would Be a 'Significant Security Risk'
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Department of Justice are locked in a battle over Chelsea Manning’s hair length. The DOJ says Manning, currently serving 35 years for leaking classified military documents, can’t be permitted to grow her hair longer than two inches. Her hair could pose “pose a significant…
Saturday Night Live's Sasheer Zamata Explains Privilege to a Bro
Saturday Night Live’s Sasheer Zamata was recently named an ACLU ambassador and she’s using her new position to “shine a spotlight on gender and privilege,” she wrote on the organization’s blog. And she’s, of course, doing it with some pretty spot-on humor.
Military Officials Will Force Chelsea Manning to Follow Male Grooming Standards
Contact the author at anna.merlan@jezebel.com.
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Catholic Hospital Denies Pregnant Woman Life-Saving Tubal Ligation
Jessica Mann, a 33-year-old social worker, is in her third trimester of pregnancy with her third child. Instead of resting and getting ready for the baby, she is fighting a battle with her Catholic hospital, which has refused to grant her a potentially life-saving procedure.
Los Angeles Police Department Distributes Body Cameras To Officers
On Monday, August 31, the Los Angeles Police Department assigned body cameras to its first patrol division. As the second largest city in the United States, this new policy is a significant, if insufficient, move towards the prevention of excessive police force and racial profiling.
ACLU Requests an Investigation Into Hollywood's Bullshit Sexism
The ACLU is taking Hollywood to task for one of its many open secrets: sexist hiring practices.
Video: US Marshal Rushes Woman Filming Him, Breaks, Kicks Camera
Last week in South Gate, California, Beatriz Paez was out for a walk when she saw a group of US marshals arresting a group of bikers on the sidewalk. She pulled out her cellphone to record the incident. Paez told The Los Angeles Times that once the marshals became aware of her smartphone they tried to block her view,…
Judge Orders Administration To End Detention of Women and Children
Since last summer, Homeland Security has been routinely holding women and children in detention centers across Texas and New Mexico. Under pressure from border states, the Obama administration made the decision in order to stave off the large influx of undocumented workers. But the policy has been applied broadly,…
Appeals Court Strikes Down North Carolina Ultrasound Law
A federal appeals court has permanently blocked a North Carolina law that would have forced women to undergo an ultrasound and hear a detailed description before being allowed to have an abortion. In their decision, the appeals judges called the law "ideological in intent and in kind" and said it "risks the infliction…
Federal Court Strikes Down Anti-Abortion TRAP Law in Indiana
A federal judge has ruled that an Indiana law seeking to change the definition of "abortion clinic" is unconstitutional. The law would have required that any medical facility providing RU-486, the abortion pill, be defined as an abortion clinic, forcing it to meet the same stringent standards Indiana has created for…
Obama's Nominee for DOJ Civil Rights Chief Is a Certifiable Badass
Vanita Gupta may be America’s new Civil Rights Chief for the Department of Justice. Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder announced President Obama’s choice to nominate the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday.
Florida Town Outlaws Saggy Pants on City Property
A Florida town has criminalized setting foot on city property with saggy pants. That means sidewalks, streets, parks, swimming pools and municipal buildings, for instance.
Creepy Politicians Make Even Creepier Doctors in New Pro Choice Ads
Over the last few years, legislative attempting to interfere in a woman's medical decisions have become so dizzyingly commonplace that it's hard to keep track of who is attacking what, and where. Now, thanks to a new push from the ACLU, following of all the places legislators are working overtime to prove they don't…
The ACLU Is Writing Checks for Madcap, Illegal-ish Gay Weddings
The ACLU is plunging its hands into the enormous pile of tulle, glitter and buttercream that is the modern American wedding. Specifically, the organization is cutting checks to five gay couples living in states where same-sex marriage is illegal, to contribute to the cost of getting hitched.
Why This Transgender Teen's Big Legal Victory Matters
Wayne Maines was in a meeting when he got the call. His daughter, a transgender teenager who had been fighting the state of Maine for years over her right to use the girls' bathroom at school, had finally won.
The ACLU Kicks Up a Fuss About Sex-Segregated Middle School Classes
The ACLU has filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education, alleging that a middle school in Wisconsin has divvied up its fifth graders into classrooms based on gender.
