News & Commentary

“They did what human beings looking for freedom, throughout history, have often done. They left.”

The country and the world face a public health emergency in the new coronavirus causing COVID-19. The media is filled with concerns about how we will respond. Will we close schools? Cancel sporting events and other large gatherings? Work from home? Avoid public transportation?

Since this country’s founding, when we’ve had something to say, we have taken to the streets. We’ve come together to celebrate our identities, to protect our land and our communities — and to push for change following injustice and tragedy. But if a recent decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals involving a Black Lives Matter protest is left standing, the right to protest will be in serious jeopardy.

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Across the country, politicians are attacking the fundamental rights of transgender and non-binary people — shutting people out of public spaces, basic services, educational institutions, and ultimately compromising the ability of trans people to survive. Trans people of all ages and backgrounds are targets, from kids in schools to incarcerated people to elderly patients in the health care system. But the weight of these attacks disproportionately falls on Black trans women and other trans people of color. Simply put, lawmakers want to stop people from being transgender — and they’re willing to put lives at risk to achieve their aims. 

This week, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case that will have wide-reaching consequences for reproductive freedom and abortion rights in America. It’s the first time the Court has weighed those rights since gaining a new conservative majority with the appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. And the stakes are high.

A group of over 450 public health experts signed a public letter today warning that widespread transmission of the Covid-19 coronavirus within the United States is “inevitable.” Their letter urges government decisionmakers to enact policies that will have the best chance of minimizing the effects of the virus: those based strictly on the best available scientific information, and those that are imposed in a fair and equitable fashion.

I was denied healthcare because I am transgender. The justification, according to the hospital, was that religious doctrine permits them to refuse transgender patients, just because of who we are. 

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a number of cases this term that will have a crucial impact on civil rights and civil liberties — from LGBTQ equality to reproductive freedom and immigrants’ rights. Earlier in the term, the ACLU had two cases asking whether workers can be fired for being LGBTQ. On March 2, we will be arguing a case on immigrants’ rights, and we have filed or will file friend-of-the-court briefs in major cases involving reproductive freedom, contraceptive access, and religious freedom.