ACLU Urges Critical LGBT and HIV/AIDS Updates to 2012 Democratic National Platform
The ACLU has been invited to offer our civil liberties and civil rights recommendations to the Democratic National Committee’s “platform drafting committee,” which is to begin the process of putting together the 2012 Democratic National Platform. While the ACLU is a nonpartisan organization, we welcome opportunities to infuse a respect for and commitment to civil liberties in the political process. We would also be pleased to offer our views to the Republican National Committee’s platform drafters.
Included as part of a range of civil liberties and civil rights issues are recommendations regarding LGBT rights and those who are living with HIV and AIDS. To be certain, at least one such issue – the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples – has garnered substantial attention and support over the past several months, but especially following President Obama’s landmark endorsement in May. The ACLU has long argued that the freedom to marry whomever we love and want to share our life with is fundamental to who we are and what we stand for as a country. The “equal responsibility, benefits, and protections” for same-sex couples. This language should be updated to reflect the basic truth that marriage matters to gay people in similar ways that it matters to everyone. Gay and lesbian couples want to get married to make a lifetime commitment to the person they love and to protect their families. Will 2012 be the year that a major American political party endorses the freedom to marry? Only time will tell.
Also related is the discriminatory so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The stated opposition to DOMA, but there has since been legislation introduced in Congress – the Respect for Marriage Act – which would completely repeal DOMA and provide married gay and lesbian couples with certainty that, regardless of where they travel or move in the country, they will not be treated as legal strangers under federal law. The 2012 platform should, in addition to stating opposition to the discriminatory DOMA, include a specific endorsement of this critically important legislation.
The 2012 platform should also include a call for passage of the , legislation in Congress which would establish a comprehensive federal anti-discrimination prohibition in all public elementary and secondary schools based on a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The tragic reality for far too many LGBT students is that discrimination and harassment are part of their daily lives at school. Amazingly, in the year 2012, there still is no federal law that explicitly protects students on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in our nation’s schools. The to “close the achievement gap in education and provide every child a world-class education.” The reality is that discrimination and harassment greatly hinder a student’s ability to obtain a world-class public education.
The Student Non-Discrimination Act would have a profound impact in improving the lives of LGBT students in the U.S. by ensuring that discrimination and harassment of students on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity has no place in our nation’s public elementary and secondary schools. The legislation was endorsed by the Obama administration in April, and the 2012 platform should include a specific endorsement of it, recognizing it as essential to the goal of securing a world-class public education for all students irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Finally, in the area of HIV/AIDS, the 2012 platform should include a call to end stigma and discrimination against those who are living with HIV and AIDS, as well as strengthened enforcement of civil rights laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 2008 platform stated a commitment to “fight HIV/AIDS in our country and around the world,” as well as a specific call to support the development of a “comprehensive national strategic plan to combat HIV/AIDS.” In July 2010, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States was released. Among the many important recommendations included in the national strategy is one to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. Its inclusion was based on the recognition of the persistent discrimination those living with HIV face, and the harm it does to efforts to fight the disease and limit its spread.
Inclusion of these recommendations in the 2012 Democratic National Platform would embrace an America where LGBT people can live openly, with respect for their identities, relationships, and families, and where there is fair treatment on the job, in schools, housing, public places, health care, and government programs; and an America where discrimination based on HIV status has ended, and in which the government’s HIV policy promotes public health and respect and compassion for people living with HIV and AIDS.
While the ACLU is presenting these recommendations to the DNC’s platform drafters, these are recommendations that people from across the political spectrum should be able to embrace. Civil liberties, including LGBT rights and protections for those living with HIV/AIDS, are not partisan issues.
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
President Biden Must Veto Defense Bill Attacking Military Families with Transgender YouthPresident Biden Must Veto Defense Bill Attacking Military Families with Transgender Youth
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate today passed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act that would ban coverage for gender-affirming care for transgender youth whose parents are active-duty military personnel. The American Civil Liberties Union is opposing final passage of the defense bill over the inclusion of this health care ban and calling on President Joe Biden to veto the bill. Section 708 of the NDAA would prohibit insurance coverage for “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria” such as hormone therapy and puberty-suppressant medications, which Speaker Mike Johnson says would “permanently ban transgender medical treatment for minors.” The same treatments would be covered by TRICARE for any medical purpose other than treating gender dysphoria, the clinical diagnosis for the psychological distress experienced by transgender people related to their gender identity. “By passing this bill, the House and Senate are forcing thousands of active-duty service members to choose between their careers in the military and the future of their transgender children,” said Mike Zamore, national director of policy & government affairs at the ACLU. “This unconscionable and unjustifiable attack on those families stands in direct contrast to President Joe Biden’s legacy of defending the civil rights of transgender Americans — including when few in his own party showed the courage to do so. President Biden should cement his legacy by vetoing this bill and sending it back to Congress to pass without Speaker Johnson’s last minute health care ban for servicemembers’ kids.” If signed by President Biden, this health care ban would be the first new anti-LGBTQ provision enacted by Congress and signed into law by the president since the enactment of the military’s since-repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for LGBTQ servicemembers and the since-repealed federal law barring recognition of same-sex marriages known as the Defense of Marriage Act. It is unknown how many transgender youth are currently enrolled in TRICARE or how many of those enrolled are currently receiving coverage for gender-affirming care. In one 2022 analysis, 2,500 minor patients sought care for gender dysphoria through TRICARE Prime insurance at military or civilian treatment facilities in 2017, and 900 received puberty suppressants or gender-affirming hormones. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a landmark case brought by the ACLU, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and Akin Gump on behalf of three families and a medical provider challenging a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming hormonal therapies for transgender youth on the grounds the ban violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
Montana Court Blocks State From Refusing to Correct Sex Markers on Transgender People's Birth Certificates and Driver's LicensesMontana Court Blocks State From Refusing to Correct Sex Markers on Transgender People's Birth Certificates and Driver's Licenses
HELENA, Mont. – A Montana court has granted a preliminary injunction preventing the state of Montana from enforcing policies that bar transgender people from obtaining accurate sex designations on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses. After a prior restriction on amendments of birth certificates was struck down by the courts, in early 2024 the state of Montana enacted a new rule that categorically bars transgender Montanans from correcting the sex designation on their birth certificates. Around the same time, the Montana Department of Justice adopted a policy similarly restricting amendment of driver’s licenses. The plaintiffs challenged these policies in state district court, arguing that they violate various constitutional provisions, including the right to equal protection of the law. In a recent Montana Supreme Court decision, two justices concluded that discrimination on the basis of transgender status – as the state is engaging in here – is a form of sex discrimination that violates the Montana Constitution’s equal protection clause. The plaintiffs, two transgender women, are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Montana, and Nixon Peabody LLP. Plaintiff Jessica Kalarchik, a veteran who served in the United States Army for 31 years, said: “After finally being able to live my life openly as the woman I know myself to be, I am frustrated that my birth state, Montana, wants me to carry around a birth certificate that incorrectly lists my sex as male. I live my life openly as a woman, I am treated as a woman in my daily life, and there is no reason I should be forced to carry a birth certificate that incorrectly identifies me as male. Fortunately, the court agrees that this ridiculous policy should not be in effect.” “Once again the State of Montana chose to adopt a draconian policy that is clearly intended to marginalize transgender Montanans, only for that discriminatory action to be blocked by the courts,” said Akilah Deernose, executive director for the ACLU of Montana. “Here in Montana we treasure our right to privacy and to live our lives free from governmental intrusion. The State of Montana clearly has not learned any lessons from the past few years, where courts have repeatedly struck down unconstitutional laws targeting transgender Montanans.” “Forcing anyone to carry documents that contradict their identity unjustly violates their rights to privacy, equal treatment, and not being compelled to convey a government message about their sex that they disagree with,” said Malita Picasso, staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “Such a policy marks transgender people for further mistreatment and discrimination, essentially requiring them to carry papers that out them as transgender any time they need to provide identity documents. Fortunately, the court has refused to allow the state of Montana to subvert the freedom of transgender Montanans to control their own identity as this case goes forward.” In granting the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, the court held, “[i]f the challenged state actions discriminate against transgender individuals on the basis of their transgender status, they also necessarily discriminate the basis of sex.” The state has the option of appealing the district court’s ruling to the Montana Supreme Court, but the underlying case will proceed in district court. A trial has not yet been scheduled. -
FloridaDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
Keohane v. DixonKeohane v. Dixon
On September 30, 2024, the Florida Department of Corrections rescinded its policy regarding treatment of gender dysphoria, which allowed for hormone therapy when deemed medically necessary, as well as access to clothing and grooming standards that accord with one’s gender identity. Under this new policy, grooming and clothing accommodations have been stripped away, and hormone therapy is not permitted unless an exception is deemed constitutionally required. The ACLU brought a class action challenging the policy. -
IdahoDec 2024
LGBTQ Rights
Robinson v. LabradorRobinson v. Labrador
Two incarcerated transgender women have sued the state of Idaho alleging that HB 688, a 2024 law barring state funding for gender-affirming medical care for transgender people, denies them access to the health care their doctors have prescribed for them and is a violation of their Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. They represent a class of all incarcerated folks within the state of Idaho who face the loss of hormone therapy due to HB 668.