Latest From ACLU of Washington

The latest content and updates from the ACLU of Washington website.

Insurance Commissioner Makes It Clear: Transgender Discrimination Is Illegal

Published: 
Friday, June 27, 2014
The ACLU of Washington applauds WA Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler for his recent action supporting the rights of transgender people. Kreidler wrote to health insurance companies on Wednesday to make clear that it is illegal to discriminate against transgender policyholders under state and federal law.
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Greenwald Speaks: Snowden and Demonizing Dissent

Published: 
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
In June of 2013, NSA contractor Edward Snowden famously leaked knowledge of systematic government spying to journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian. Over the next year, Greenwald assembled his insights about government spying and Snowden into a book titled No Place to Hide. On a book tour, he recently spoke to a packed house at Seattle’s Town Hall.
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Liberty Link: Guess Where Seattle’s Police Drones Ended Up?

Published: 
Friday, June 20, 2014
Have you wondered where Seattle’s police drones are? How about … Los Angeles? In an aptly named article “Game of Drones” in the LA Weekly, Seattle journalist Rick Anderson chronicles how the Los Angeles Police Department acquired the two 3.5 Draganflyer X6 drones as a gift from the Seattle Police Department.
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Focus Cop Cams on Police Accountability

Published: 
Thursday, June 19, 2014
When people hear that their police department is considering equipping officers with body cameras, their initial reaction is likely to be “Good!”  Many instances of police misconduct have come to light over the years because someone recorded the incident with a mobile camera. So having a camera attached to each officer seems like a great way to ensure accountability.
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Liberty Link: Yes, America, we have returned to debtor's prisons

Published: 
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Alexes Harris, UW sociology professor and ACLU-WA board member, dissects the phenomenon of modern-day debtor’s prisons in an insightful op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times. Harris describes a surprisingly common and disturbing system: “The people least likely to earn a steady wage — the homeless, unemployed and the physically and mentally limited — are routinely labeled "willful" non-payers and sentenced to jail for not fulfilling their sentences.”
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A Landmark Case on Indigent Defense: Infographic

Published: 
Friday, June 13, 2014
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Michael Marchesini: A Holistic Approach to Social Change

Published: 
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Legal intern Michael Marchesini is excited to be working on criminal justice and voting rights for the ACLU in his home state. He is proud of Washington for its recent advances in civil liberties, including marriage equality and marijuana legalization, as well as the Governor’s moratorium on the death penalty and the ACLU’s work against debtors’ prisons.
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Stephanie Llanes: Fighting to Achieve MLK’s “Beloved Community”

Published: 
Friday, June 6, 2014
Stephanie Llanes has come a long way from where she started. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Orlando, she just finished her first year at Berkeley Law School – the first in her family to attend college.
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Schools: Don’t Show the Door to Pregnant Students, Make Them Feel Welcome

Published: 
Thursday, May 29, 2014
May has been National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month—a month-long opportunity for parents, schools, policy-makers, and organizations to promote and support effective teen pregnancy prevention initiatives. As becoming pregnant as a teen is a significant stumbling block to a financially secure future, measures devoted to preventing teen pregnancy certainly are important.
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Psychiatric Patients Entitled to Treatment, Not Warehousing, Advocates Tell State Supreme Court

News Release, Published: 
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Advocates for psychiatric patients have filed a friend of the court brief with the Washington Supreme Court urging it to uphold a trial court ruling invalidating a practice called “boarding” – holding civil commitment patients in hospital emergency rooms unable to provide adequate treatment.  The brief was filed by statewide mental health, disability rights, and civil liberties organizations.
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Liberty Link: Jailed Immigrants as a Pool of Cheap Labor

Published: 
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
A terrific article in the New York Times calls out government officials for using detained immigrants as extremely cheap labor at federal detention centers. For performing such essential tasks as preparing meals, scrubbing bathrooms, and buffing hallways, the jailed workers are paid all of 13 cents an hour (i.e., a dollar a day) – far less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour that would be paid to contractors.
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