Senator Richard Durbin, Dr. Quentin D. Young Headline Organization's Annual Gala

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CHICAGO - Illinois' Senior United States Senator and a tireless advocate for free speech and the rights of the most vulnerable in our society headline a list of distinguished awardees to be honored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois at the 2006 Bill of Rights Celebration on Saturday, September 30th. The awards recognize the efforts by each honoree to protect basic constitutional rights and fundamental freedoms. More than six hundred (600) ACLU supporters will attend the awards ceremony to be held at the Chicago Hyatt Regency.

This year's awardees include: U.S. Senator Richard Durbin; Quentin D. Young, M.D.; Ronald Miller, a lawyer with the Chicago law firm of Miller, Shakman & Beem; Cleo Wilson, a renowned Chicago activist and Executive Director of the Playboy Foundation; Mark Ishaug, Executive Director of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, and, Gail Waller, a lawyer in ACLU cases seeking better services for our state's most vulnerable citizens.

"These individuals are heroes," said Colleen Connell, Executive Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "From the halls of Congress to the streets of Chicago, from corporate board rooms to courts across our state, these individuals demonstrate great courage in pursuing fairness and justice. Their work is an inspiration for all of us."

For one of the few times in ACLU of Illinois history, the Board has bestowed a Special Legislative Award on United States Senator Richard Durbin. Senator Durbin is being honored for his work in Congress defending key constitutional rights against the Bush Administration's efforts to act without impunity or oversight. Senator Durbin's efforts to end the use of torture on persons held by the United States, his work to reform the USA PATRIOT Act and his opposition to warrantless wiretapping by the Administration make Senator Durbin a beacon of courage in a Congress that otherwise has abdicated its essential role as a check on the abuse of presidential power.

The ACLU of Illinois Board of Directors decided earlier this year to recognize two outstanding Chicago residents and activists, Ronald Miller and Cleo Wilson, with the Edwin A. Rothschild Award. Ronald Miller is honored for his long and stellar record of protecting civil liberties and civil rights throughout his legal career. Mr. Miller is a bar leader with a sense of purpose - promoting pro bono work within his law firm and setting a standard for other firms to follow. A co-chair of the ACLU of Illinois Advisory Committee, Mr. Miller also serves on the board of the National Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, as a senior counsel of pro bono affairs for the Center for Disability and Elder Law and as a member of the advisory committee to Northwestern University Law School's Center for International Human Rights.

Cleo Wilson is described by the ACLU's Connell as the "conscious" of the organization. Currently serving as the executive director of the Playboy Foundation, Ms. Wilson also volunteers on several boards, including the board of the ACLU of Illinois and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. At the Playboy Foundation, Ms. Wilson advanced funding for projects designed to secure justice for all persons, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. She has been called the "conscious" of the ACLU by Ms. Connell.

The 2006 Roger Baldwin Award is being presented to Dr. Quentin Young, an advocate for basic rights and sound public health policy in Chicago for more than four decades. Dr. Young consistently has demonstrated courage in the face of efforts by government to silence or intimidate him. He was undeterred by an appearance before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955, and was subject to surveillance and harassment by the Chicago police department's discredited "Red Squad" in the 1960s and 1970s. Most recently, Dr. Young joined a group of noteworthy Chicago area residents in challenging the actions of telephone giant AT&T in turning over the phone records of innocent Americans to the government.

Gail Waller, a lawyer who formerly served as a corporation counsel and a partner in a major Chicago law firm, is the Annetta Dieckmann Volunteer Award recipient for this year. Ms. Waller has worked selflessly for the past two years at the ACLU's Institutionalize Persons/Children's Initiative Project. Because of her efforts, the ACLU has joined with a number of disability rights organizations to challenge state practices that funnel those with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities into large, impersonal institutions, rather than allowing these individuals to live in smaller community-based settings where they can develop their talents and skills to the fullest extent possible.

The recipients of the 2006 John R. Hammell Award is Mark Ishaug, Executive Director of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Mr. Ishaug works tirelessly to end all vestiges of discrimination against people who are HIV positive and their families. His commitment to make certain that legal protections apply to all persons is unyielding, and often places him in coalition with the ACLU of Illinois. The Hammell Award is named in memory of the founder of the ACLU of Illinois Gay and Lesbian Rights/AIDS and Civil Liberties Project.

"We are looking forward to a successful Bill of Rights Celebration," adds the ACLU's Connell. "The quality of the awardees, the strength and vitality of our membership and the importance of civil liberties issues in the public consciousness at this time makes this event very special."