News & Commentary

Author and journalist Matt Taibbi has returned to writing for Rolling Stone magazine with an article profiling JPMorgan Chase whistleblower Alayne Fleischmann. Taibbi is most acclaimed for his books, Griftopia and more recently, The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap. The ACLU of Illinois is pleased to be welcoming Mr. Taibbi as the guest speaker at the first annual ACLU Lunch on April 17, 2015 in Chicago.

With just a few days to go before Election Day we know you are being barraged with political advertising, mailings and emails for specific candidates. The ACLU of Illinois wants to remind you that there are two critical ballot issues worthy of your support. 

Thirty-six years ago this week, the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act was signed into law. The law protects pregnant workers from job discrimination, and requires that employers treat pregnant workers the same as other workers in similar situations (like those with temporary disabilities).

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:

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:

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.

A recent New York Times article tells the story of Angelica Valencia, who asked her employer to accommodate her high-risk pregnancy based on her doctor’s orders. Since Ms. Valencia was 39 years old and had miscarried last year, her doctor recommended that she limit work to a full-time eight-hour shift, with no overtime. Even though her co-workers volunteered to handle the lifting and heavy machinery duties, and the busy season at her job was about to end, Ms. Valencia’s employer insisted that she work overtime without restrictions. After she gave her manager a doctor’s note explaining why she needed the accommodation, Ms. Valencia was forced to leave the job where she’d worked for three years.

After nearly three decades working in public policy, it remains a mystery the way in which some set priorities. This was reinforced recently at a hearing for the State Task Force on Civic Education. The Task Force, created by the Illinois General Assembly, is charged with reporting back to the legislature by the end of the year on the ways in which Illinois can bolster and strengthen the teaching of civics and government in our public schools.

When you go to the polls on November 4th, you have a chance to support unfettered access to birth control. A question on Illinois' ballots for 2014 is straightforward: Shall any insurance plan in Illinois that provides prescription coverage be required to include prescription birth control as part of that coverage?"