ACLU of South Dakota Announces Event to Feature Former U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson

• Heather Smith, Executive Director, ACLU of South Dakota
• Mark Meierhenry, former South Dakota Attorney General and Cheers to Liberty Presenting Sponsor
• Brendan Johnson, former U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
• Chase Strangio, Staff Attorney, ACLU LGBT & HIV Project (NY), Writer and Activist

BACKGROUND: The ACLU of South Dakota will host Cheers to Liberty, presented by former South Dakota Attorney General Mark Meierhenry, to raise funds and support the organization’s mission to:

• Hold the government accountable for its treatment of incarcerated people and to make the criminal justice system more fair
• Fight for LGBT equality in the courts and the legislature by advancing and strengthening protections while defeating backlash legislation
• End voter suppression and guarantee an easy and equal vote for all South Dakotans.

Keynote speaker Chase Strangio, Staff Attorney, ACLU LGBT & HIV Project (New York), Writer and Activist will give an overview of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender legal and legislative trends in South Dakota and around the country. Strangio’s keynote will demonstrate the way in which a small state like South Dakota’s consideration and advancement of discriminatory legislation that targeted transgender people had a rippling effect on state legislatures around the country.

For more information about the Cheers to Liberty event and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.aclusd.org/en/events/cheers-liberty

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