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Alabama School District Agrees to End Illegal Sex Segregation
Policy Change Comes After Notice From ACLU
MOBILE, Ala.
The
Mobile County School System has agreed to stop sex segregation in
public schools after being notified by the American Civil Liberties
Union that its sex segregated programs were illegal and discriminatory.
Late last evening, the Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County
approved a settlement agreement changing the policy.
"While schools might think that sex
segregated classes will be a quick fix for failing schools, in reality
they are inherently unequal and shortchange both boys and girls," said
Emily Martin, Deputy Director of the ACLU Women's Rights Program. "We
hope that now Mobile County will focus on efforts that we know can
improve all students' education, like smaller classes and more teacher
training and parental involvement."
Without notifying parents, the
Mobile County School System segregated by sex the entire student body
of Hankins Middle School by sex for the 2008-2009 school year. The
policy went so far as to bar boys and girls from even speaking to each
other in school hallways. Outraged parents contacted the ACLU in
November 2008, after the school denied their earlier requests to resume
coeducational classes. At least seven other schools in Mobile County
also segregated students by sex; some of these schools did not provide
a coeducational option for students or parents.
Under the settlement agreement,
Hankins Middle School will immediately cease to segregate students by
sex in elective classes, at lunchtime and all other nonacademic events.
Beginning in the fall of 2009, all courses will be integrated in every
school in the county and no school will institute any sex segregated
programs for the next three years. For the 2012-2013 academic year and
two years thereafter, if Mobile County plans to institute new
single-sex programs in any school, it must first notify the ACLU before
implementing them.
Under the sex segregation program at
Hankins Middle School this year, teachers had been instructed to treat
boys and girls differently. At a teacher training, teachers were
informed that boys should be taught about "heroic behavior" but that
girls should learn "good character." Teachers were told that male
hormone levels directly relate to success at "traditional male tasks"
but that when stress levels rise in an adolescent girl's brain, "other
things shut down." A story in the Mobile Press-Register reported that a
language arts exercise for sixth grade girls involved asking the girls
to use as many descriptive words as possible to describe their dream
wedding cake, while the boys were asked to brainstorm action verbs used
in sports.
According to Mark Jones, whose son
Jacob attends Hankins Middle School, the school principal told him that
the changes at Hankins were necessary because boys' and girls' brains
are so different that they needed different curriculums.
"Segregating boys and girls didn't
make things any better for our children; in fact, it made things
worse," said Jones. "Our kids were basically being taught ideas about
gender that come from the dark ages."
In a letter sent to the school board
in November 2008, the ACLU and the ACLU of Alabama informed the Mobile
County School System that mandatory sex segregation in public schools
violates Title IX of the Education Amendments, the Equal Education
Opportunities Act and the U.S. Constitution. The Mobile County school
board initially seemed receptive to halting single-sex programs in
county schools, but it wasn't until the ACLU threatened to file a
lawsuit that the school board finally agreed to reintegrate.
"I really wish the school had
checked in with parents before it went ahead and separated all the boys
from the girls," said Terry Stevens, whose son attends Hankins Middle
School. "I'm happy that next year the school will be integrated but
very disappointed that my son will have had an entire year without any
academic classes with girls. The real world is integrated, and it's
important to both me and my son that he learn in a coed environment."
A recent review of existing data by
the U.S. Department of Education showed that there is no consistent
evidence that segregating students by sex improves learning by either
sex. Yet, school districts across the country are experimenting with
sex segregated programs, which all too often rely on questionable
"brain science" theories based on outdated gender stereotypes that
suggest that teachers should treat boys and girls radically differently.
"We're very pleased that the Mobile
County school board agreed to end mandatory sex segregation," said
Allison Neal, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Alabama. "These
programs are not only clearly against the law, but also diminish real
life experiences and diversity in public schools."
In addition to the ACLU,
organizations that have opposed sex segregation in schools include the
national NAACP, the National Education Association and the American
Association of University Women.
Attorneys who worked on the
settlement agreement include Martin and Lenora Lapidus from the ACLU
Women's Rights Project and Neal from the ACLU of Alabama.
A copy of the settlement agreement is available at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/39130lgl20090324.html
More information on the ACLU Women's Rights Project work on sex segregation is available at: www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/34504res20080228.html
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.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
Class Action Suit Aims to End 'Unlawful' ICE Arrests at Immigration Courthouses
"We are witnessing an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. immigration court system by the Trump administration."
Jul 16, 2025
A dozen immigrants and their legal advocates on Wednesday launched a class action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's campaign of courthouse arrests "designed to strip noncitizens of their rights" and expedite deportations.
"We are witnessing an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. immigration court system by the Trump administration," said Keren Zwick, director of litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), one of the groups behind the new suit. "People who attend their hearings to seek permission to remain in this country and comply with U.S. immigration law are being rounded up and abruptly ripped from their families, homes, and livelihoods."
"Meanwhile, the administration is issuing directives telling immigration judges to violate those same immigration laws and strip people of fundamental due process rights," Zwick added. "We must continue fighting to overcome the administration's escalating attacks on the U.S. Constitution and rule of law."
The suit—filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by NIJC, Democracy Forward, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF), and Refugee and Immigrant Center for Legal Education and Services (RAICES)—aims to end the "unlawful" arrests and strike down related guidance from the administration.
"For years, both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) had policies limiting civil immigration-related arrests in immigration courts," explains the complaint, filed on behalf of 12 people identified by their initials as well as the groups American Gateways and Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative (ARC).
"These policies were rooted in the commonsense recognition that such arrests hamper the fair administration of the immigration process and create a palpable fear that disincentivizes people from appearing for their hearings," the complaint explains. "But in the first few days of the Trump administration, defendants repealed those policies, exposing individuals who properly appear for their hearings, including to seek asylum and other relief, to the imminent threat of arrest and indefinite detention."
Defendants include DHS, DOJ, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and leaders in the administration who have been working to deliver on President Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations.
@skyeperryman.bsky.social of @democracyforward.org said the Trump administration is ‘weaponizing’ immigration courts and chilling participation in the legal process.”apnews.com/article/immi...
[image or embed]
— Melissa Schwartz (@mschwartz3.bsky.social) July 16, 2025 at 6:01 PM
"The egregious and unprecedented coordination amongst government agencies that we are witnessing not only inflicts irreparable harm upon infants and adults alike for seeking refuge in the U.S., but also establishes a chilling precedent in which law and order are abandoned in favor of stoking widespread panic and fear—leaving the entire American public at risk, regardless of immigration status," warned Faisal Al-Juburi, chief external affairs officer at RAICES.
Jordan Wells, senior staff Attorney at LCCRSF, declared that "these directives forsake any notion of immigration courts as a neutral forum, weaponizing them into a trap for immigrants who show up in reliance on the American promise of a fair process before a judge, only to be met instead with handcuffs and shunted into a fast-track deportation process controlled by ICE agents."
Priyanka Gandhi-Abriano, interim CEO for Immigrant ARC, said that "our friends, neighbors, and families are told to 'do it the right way'—to follow the legal process. They're doing just that—showing up to court, complying with the law. Despite this, they're being arrested and detained."
"This isn't justice," Gandhi-Abriano stressed. "It's a deliberate attempt to intimidate and disappear people before they can be heard. We're defending the integrity of the legal system, protecting every person's right to due process, and holding the Trump administration accountable for their deeply harmful practices aimed at the most vulnerable communities."
The filing follows a Friday letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons—all defendants in the new case—in which two dozen U.S. Senate Democrats wrote that "we are extremely concerned by reports of a recent initiative to arrest and detain noncitizens at their immigration court hearings, and in many cases, dismiss their immigration cases without advance notice and while hiding the government's intent to arrest them."
"This manipulation of existing laws to enact this administration's mass deportation agenda is creating chaos in our immigration system while doing nothing to make our communities safer," asserted the lawmakers, led by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). They also demanded answers to a list of related questions by July 25.
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'No State Is Above the Law': Hague Group Issues Plan to Counter Israeli Genocide in Gaza
"These measures show that we will no longer allow international law to be treated as optional, or Palestinian life as disposable," said Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Jul 16, 2025
The Hague Group—a coalition of Global South nations launched earlier this year by Progressive International to hold Israel legally accountable for its annihilation of Gaza—on Wednesday released a joint action plan aimed at bringing an end to the 21-month U.S.-backed genocidal assault on the Palestinian enclave.
On the second and final day of an emergency summit in Bogotá, Colombia—which co-chairs the Hague Group with South Africa—the coalition announced a six-point plan for "coordinated diplomatic, legal, and economic measures to restrain Israel's assault on the occupied Palestinian territories and defend international law at large."
Hague Group executive secretary Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla said in a statement that "this conference marks a turning point—not just for Palestine, but for the future of the international system."
"For decades, states—particularly in the Global South—have borne the cost of a broken international system," Gandikota-Nellutla added. "In Bogotá, they came together to reclaim it—not with words, but with actions."
Twelve summit participants—Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Africa—committed to the following measures:
- Preventing the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel;
- Preventing the transit, docking, and servicing of ships at any port where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry the aforementioned items to Israel;
- Preventing the transportation of such items aboard vessels flagged in participating nations;
- Launching an urgent review of all public contracts to prevent public institutions and funds from supporting Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine and entrenching its unlawful presence;
- Complying with obligations to ensure accountability for the most serious Israeli crimes under international law; and
- Supporting universal jurisdiction mandates in national legal frameworks and judiciaries to ensure justice for victims of international crimes committed in Palestine.
"These 12 states have taken a momentous step forward," United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, a prominent participant in the summit, said in a statement. "The clock is now ticking for states—from Europe to the Arab world and beyond—to join them."
Earlier this month, the Trump administration sanctioned Albanese, who recently said that "Israel is responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history." The U.S. administration also imposed sanctions on judges from the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the tribunal issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, including murder and forced starvation.
In addition to the 12 nations, delegates from Algeria, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Djibouti, Honduras, Ireland, Lebanon, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Uruguay, and Venezuela attended the Bogotá summit.
Many of the participating nations are supporting the ongoing genocide case against Israel filed in December 2023 by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The ICJ has ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel has ignored the orders.
"What we have achieved here is a collective affirmation that no state is above the law," South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola said Wednesday. "The Hague Group was born to advance international law in an era of impunity. The measures adopted in Bogotá show that we are serious—and that coordinated state action is possible."
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, whose government last year severed diplomatic relations with Israel, said, "We came to Bogotá to make history—and we did."
"Together, we have begun the work of ending the era of impunity," he added. "These measures show that we will no longer allow international law to be treated as optional, or Palestinian life as disposable."
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 58,386 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023—most of them women and children. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have concluded that this figure is likely a vast undercount.
More than 139,000 Palestinians have been wounded, and at least 14,000 others are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of bombed buildings. Most of Gaza's more than 2 million people have also been forcibly displaced, often multiple times, as Israel pursues an official policy of ethnic cleansing under the guise of humanitarian relocation.
Ultimately, it is up to Israel to end its obliteration of Gaza. However, neither Israel—which claims it is acting in self-defense in response to the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023—nor its unconditional U.S. benefactor recognize the authority of the ICJ or ICC, and both nations vehemently deny that any genocide is occurring in Gaza, despite growing international consensus.
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Labor-Backed Coalition Launches Working-Class Effort to Flip 35+ House Seats in 2026
"Working people deserve leaders who will fight for them, not grovel at the feet of their billionaire donors," said Maurice Mitchell of the Working Families Party, one of the groups involved in the new coalition.
Jul 16, 2025
A coalition of dozens of labor groups and other progressive activist organizations has launched a new $50 million initiative to flip the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026 with a coalition of working-class voters.
The political action committee, Battleground Alliance PAC, announced Wednesday that it will seek to flip at least 35 Republican-held districts for Democrats by mobilizing voters angry about the Trump administration's assault on the social safety net and authoritarian attacks on civil liberties.
The groups will target their efforts toward mobilizing voters who have been hit the hardest by the Republican agenda.
"These are parents who will lose healthcare for their kids, families struggling after [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] cuts, seniors not being able to afford their medication, people struggling with higher utility bills, and workers who've watched billionaires get tax breaks while their wages stay flat," the group said Wednesday. "They're not just participating, they're at the center of leading this effort to take back control and make their voices heard at the ballot box next November."
The coalition is attempting to build upon the successes of Battleground New York, which mobilized progressive voters in 2024 to flip back many seats lost to Republicans during the previous cycle. Amid the daily outrages of President Donald Trump's second term, they believe that success can be replicated nationally.
"People are angry for a reason," said Stephanie Porta, campaign manager for the Battleground Alliance. "They've seen their rights stripped, their wages stagnate, their bills skyrocket, their healthcare attacked—and they're done waiting. This isn't about the usual D.C. politics. This is about the majority of Americans saying: enough is enough."
Among the groups taking part in the alliance are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Working Families Party, Planned Parenthood Votes, Indivisible, and MoveOn.
The announcement of Battleground Alliance came on the same day that the Congressional Progressive Caucus outlined its major priorities for 2026 in a briefing to reporters.
"Working people in America are getting screwed by corrupt politicians and big corporations that are driving costs up and keeping pay and benefits down," said the caucus's chair, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas).
Casar and his colleagues introduced four "task forces" that "go directly at those big problems facing Americans: fighting corruption and corporate greed in order to lower costs and win better pay and benefits."
The Battleground Alliance is taking a similar approach, focusing on the material effects of the Trump agenda on working people.
"GOP members of Congress betrayed their constituents when they voted to kick 17 million Americans off their health care," said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. "Working people deserve leaders who will fight for them, not grovel at the feet of their billionaire donors. We're ready to organize in districts all across the country to kick out members of Congress who lied to their constituents and voted for this disastrous budget."
The group is planning to pour $1 million into the most competitive districts in the country, targeting Republicans who voted for Trump's massive budget legislation.
Some of the Republican targets it has already singled out include Rep. David Valadao, whose district in California's San Joaquin Valley is majority Latino and has one of the highest Medicaid enrollment rates in the country; and Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, whose Allentown, Pennsylvania district now has 25,000 people at risk of losing food stamps as a result of the law.
"Working people are done watching politicians in Washington hand out favors to the wealthy while our communities struggle to afford care, housing, and food," said April Verrett, president of SEIU. "Through 2026 and beyond, we will continue to organize in places that they've tried to ignore because that's where real change begins."
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