News & Commentary

Earlier this week, Illinois’ Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and leaders from the Democratic-controlled legislature took a break from campaigning and gathered together at a ceremony in Chicago to smile for cameras and extol the spirit of compromise as the governor signed legislation aimed at reforming the state’s broken criminal justice system.

The ACLU’s work on behalf of transgender rights, especially students who are transgender, brings us into contact with advocates from the LGBT community that we have worked with for many years. But we also are working with new partners, with special expertise and understanding of the issues faced by people who are transgender. One such organization is the Gender and Sex Development Program at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The program, which provides a holistic set of services to young people who are transgender and their families, has been in operation for three years. Recently, we interviewed Dr. Robert Garofalo, the co-director of the Program, to discuss his work and the needs of transgender youth.ACLU: Has any

It was another busy summer in Springfield this session. With the budget impasse looming, our legislative efforts at times felt insurmountable. Luckily, to the benefit of our great state and all of its residents, we were able to advance critical measures that set new precedents for civil liberties and human rights in Illinois. Here is a brief roundup of some of the bills we worked on, and the progress we made:

Like many people in Chicago, I use public restrooms almost every day, sometimes several times in a day. My use of these facilities is entirely unremarkable and unmemorable. In my work on behalf of transgender clients as a legal fellow with the ACLU of Illinois’ LGBT & HIV Project, I’ve become all too familiar with the troubling and often devastating discrimination faced by transgender people in Illinois. I have personally seen how widespread ignorance and intolerance towards members of this community casts a dark shadow over the lives of people who have done nothing wrong – people who just want to live their lives being true to themselves and respected for who they are.Because of my work, I’ve found that I can no longer use the restroom without thinking about how what for most people is ordinary and forgettable (as it should be) is a source of significant anxiety, fear, and even danger for members of our community and visitors to our City who are transgender or gender-nonconforming. Things are even worse currently in Chicago when it comes to the stress transgender people face because of a Chicago ordinance that currently empowers owners and managers of restaurants, bars, and other places serving the public to stop people they perceive as transgender and ask them for an ID before they can use the restroom.On Wednesday, the City Council will vote on an o

The horrific events over the weekend in Orlando shock the conscience. The attacks at the Pulse nightclub are made worse, if that is possible, by the reality that the victims were targeted because they were lesbian, gay or transgender.

Having a child should be a cause for celebration, not outrage. But when my husband and I were welcoming our second child into the world three years ago, we learned firsthand how the pervasive nature of religiously controlled medical services can affect us all.We thought our local Catholic

In three decades of working on public policy, there were a few rules that every thoughtful person in this work followed. On top of that list was the principle that personal attacks on children are off limits. No matter how fierce the advocacy, you never single out or demean a child in order to advance a particular position. Not any longer, apparently.

There is a lot to do on the road to fairness and dignity for transgender Americans, but I am very pleased to report on an important success that I, in partnership with the ACLU, was able to achieve in Illinois this week – ensuring access to gender-appropriate locker rooms and restrooms for students in my school.This Monday, the school b

The Chicago Sun Times posted a story this weekend detailing Chicago Police Department activities aimed at monitoring the activities of protest groups, especially African American groups, in the aftermath of the release of the Laquan MacDonald video in November 2015. The Sun Times story describes the CPD making “plans to have undercover officers spy on protest groups.” The following can be attributed to Karen Sheley of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois: