News & Commentary

Congress leaves town for a seven-week recess today. They leave behind plenty of unfinished business, like legislation to address the looming threat of the Zika virus in the U.S. and around the globe. But with so many pressing issues left unresolved, Congress chose to spend its last few days in Washington doubling down on proposals that discriminate against women and LGBT people under the guise of religious liberty.

During a week when anti-LGBT rhetoric manifested into literal violence in Orlando, a month in which we celebrate LGBT Pride, and a year in which we’ve seen over 200 anti-LGBT bills introduced nationwide, the City Council had the chance to stand against hatred and act bravely to affirm the legal rights and human dignity of this community. Instead, they retreated.

For young Black and Latino gay, bisexual, and same-gender loving men like me, the club is our place to gather as a community, and last Sunday its sanctity was violated with the same violence we experience by unapologetically living our lives outside its doors.

Over the past year, as public policy debates about transgender rights have deepened — and anti-trans rhetoric has escalated — in state legislatures and in the courts, our nation has started learning more about who transgender people are — our neighbors, our co-workers, our fellow students, and our family members.

Reports are rolling in from across the country of nontransgender women being policed and harassed in bathrooms.

After a long, painful fight, our lawmakers are finally starting to realize that it’s time to put the awful history of injustice against transgender people behind us.

By James Esseks, Director, LGBT & HIV Project

By: Libby Skarin, Policy Director & Lobbyist, ACLU SDA glance at my calendar as I write this tells me that today is March 31. That date is cause for much celebration around the ACLU of South Dakota office because it means that we have officially made it to the other side of the 2016 legislative session! This year's 38 day session was a whirlwind so take a deep breath, grab yourself a cup of coffee, and let's recap!

Today our marvelous victory is standing by each other to defeat South Dakota’s anti-trans measure. Tomorrow, it is bringing that fight and our voices to Tennessee, Washington and to support each other as we strive to live without the constant threat of interpersonal and state violence.