The wave of recent youth suicides due to anti-LGBT bullying has been a wakeup call to many. In September, writer Dan Savage started the It Gets Better Project on YouTube to offer hope and support to LGBT youth, letting them know that despite the bullying and harassment they face in high school or in their community - it can and does get better:

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According to their website, "ItGetsBetterProject.com is a place where young people who are gay, lesbian, bi, or trans can see with their own eyes how love and happiness can be a reality in their future. It's a place where LGBT adults can share the stories of their lives, and straight allies can add their names in solidarity and help spread our message of hope."

The ACLU of Illinois created this video to share that message and to add: We're Here to Help. We have created a new website - You Have the Right to Be Yourself - that talks about the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in Illinois. And, we are here to help young people facing harassment and bullying in their schools.

ACLU's national office also made two excellent videos for the It Gets Better Project, which you can view on the ACLU's LGBT Youth and Schools site.

Yesterday, the ACLU of Illinois filed a new brief in our case, ACLU v. Alvarez, seeking to end prosecutions for recording public conversations with police. The brief, simultaneously arguing for a preliminary injunction and opposing the defendant's motion to dismiss the case, states:

The two motions before the Court--the ACLU's motion for a preliminary injunction and defendant's motion to dismiss--share a common question of law. That question is whether the ACLU has a First Amendment right to audio record, in a manner that is otherwise lawful, police officers engaged in their public duties in public places. The answer to that question is yes. Such audio recording are every bit as integral to freedom of expression as other forms of protected expression. Because no contrary compelling or even substantial state interest is served by the contested application of the statute, the Court should therefore find that the Illinois Eavesdropping Act (the "Act"), as applied to the ACLU's planned recording of police conduct, violates the First Amendment.