News & Commentary

In Alabama, Texas, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington, and more, bills have been pre-filed or lawmakers have announced their plans to file bills that target transgender individuals for discrimination. Unconstitutional, unenforceable, and harmful, these bills send the message to trans people that our very existence is a problem for the lawmakers charged with protecting us.

Sign up to volunteer with the ACLU of South Dakota, and commit to showing up in Pierre, at local legislative coffees, and school board meetings!

Today, Human Rights Watch announced the launch of a report "Like Walking Through a Hailstorm: Discrimination against LGBT Youth in US Schools" which documents problems facing LGBT students. Both the ACLU of South Dakota and the Center for Equality were invited to speak at the press conference.

A veteran from Minnesota explains why he's standing with Standing Rock.

A bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton about 20 years ago created an interstate agreement for emergency management. That agreement helped bring law enforcement agents from 10 states (including South Dakota) to the site of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.

An update about ACLU work in Standing Rock and what you can do to help the water protectors.

ACLU and Leadership Conference call for an end to law enforcement response to peaceful protesters with weapons of war.

In the United States, people have the right to protest, and the press has the right to write about it. But over the past month, multiple journalists, documentary filmmakers, and activists have been arrested in three different states for engaging in and reporting on protests against fossil fuel infrastructure projects. While the arrests are concerning, many of the charges leveled at members of the press, particularly the documentarians, are excessive and clearly designed to send a message to other activists and members of the independent media who might cover the protests: Want to join them?

Amendment T, a measure that would change the way South Dakota draws its legislative districts, will be on the ballot in November 2016.