May, 20 2010, 01:16pm EDT
Senate Introduces Bill to Protect LGBT Students Against Discrimination
WASHINGTON
Senator Al Franken (D-MN) introduced an important bill today that
would offer remedies for discrimination "based on actual or perceived
sexual orientation or gender identity" in public elementary and
secondary schools. The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) would help
to end entrenched biases towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) students in our education system. A similar bill was introduced
in the House of Representatives in January by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO)
and currently has over 100 co-sponsors. The American Civil Liberties
Union strongly supports these bills and urges swift action by both
chambers.
The ACLU is currently
involved in a case that underscores the need for the SNDA. In April, the
ACLU filed a complaint with the Itawamba County School District in
Fulton, Mississippi urging the school district to reverse its decision
to forbid a lesbian student from attending a prom with her girlfriend
and from wearing a tuxedo to the prom. After school officials canceled
the prom altogether rather than allow Constance McMillen to attend the
dance in a tuxedo with her girlfriend, the ACLU then filed a federal
lawsuit. In a preliminary ruling in April, the court found that Itawamba
County School District officials violated McMillen's First Amendment
right to freedom of expression, and the case is expected to go to
trial.
The following can be attributed to Laura W.
Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:
"The Student
Non-Discrimination Act is an answer to a persistent problem. As we have
seen recently in Constance McMillen's case, LGBT students continue to
face harassment and intolerance every day. Under the Student Non-Discrimination Act,
McMillen and LGBT students like her would have a federal statute to
protect them. Our public schools
should be a safe harbor for our students, not a place of exclusion and
ridicule. The Student Non-Discrimination Act will go a long way toward
protecting our students and will promote both equality in schools and a
safer learning environment. We urge the both the House and Senate to
make this bill a priority."
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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Amid Spying Fight, House Passes Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act
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While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
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Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, similarly said Wednesday that "the bipartisan passage of this bill is a flashing warning sign to the government that if it wants our data, it must get a warrant."
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As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
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"After a year of preparation, we finally open the doors to our new research consortium, exposing the global network of reactionary forces that corrode our democracies, destroy our planet, and drive us closer to world war," the group added.
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