Over the weekend, the State of Illinois announced that it too would impose a mandatory quarantine on health care workers who return to Illinois after providing professional care to those suffering with Ebola in West Africa.  In response to this announcement, ACLU of Illinois Executive Director Colleen Connell issued the following statement:

As we continue to gather information about the State's plans for a quarantine policy related to Ebola, we urge such policy to be guided by public health care professionals, not politicians. Forcibly quarantining an individual who is not exhibiting symptoms of any disease is a dramatic step, fraught with numerous constitutional questions. A forced quarantine is, at its core, the deprivation of fundamental liberty. Government should not exercise this authority without clear standards (based on public health science) and without an ability to have a decision to quarantine reviewed. This is what our Constitution demands, and without appropriate due process there is a risk that the State will abuse its authority.

For all these reasons, the State of Illinois should be very cautious before it implements this policy.

ACLU of Illinois’ LGBT and HIV Project Director John Knight appeared on the WBEZ program Afternoon Shift to discuss discrimination against transgender individuals in employment and other contexts. The discussion was generated by the case of Tamara Lusardi, a civilian Army employee who is also transgender, after she experienced discrimination in the workplace. According to a recent study by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National LGBTQ Task Force, 90 percent of transgender individuals report discrimination in the workplace. John Knight spoke about the ruling in Tamara's case and the challenges faced by transgender persons in our society:

"...it's groundbreaking to have this kind of movement in protecting veterans. Although of course we're talking about veterans in a civilian capacity. Particularly to recognize that these kinds of things that so many transgender people face...being forced to use a single-use bathroom, misuse of pronouns -- those things are really harmful and to have recognition of that from the Office of Special Counsel is really wonderful news."

Listen to the entire segment below:

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One of the proudest areas of work for the ACLU across the nation over the past several decades has been our efforts to expand the right to vote. In recent years, the ACLU has led the fight against voter suppression efforts, including recent litigation in neighboring Wisconsin to challenge that state’s discriminatory “voter identification” law.

When you go to the polls this year in Illinois—and early voting already is underway—you have the ability to protect the right to vote. A non-partisan question on the Illinois ballot poses a straightforward question to voters. The proposal would amend the Illinois Constitution to explicitly state that no person can be denied the right to register to vote or cast a ballot based on race, color, ethnicity, status as a member of a language minority, sex, sexual orientation or income.
 

The ACLU of Illinois urges you to support this question when you vote in November. And, we hope you will talk with our family members, friends and others in your extended circle about the importance of protecting voting rights today.