LGBT Rights

The ACLU has advocated on behalf of LGBT people for over 70 years and in 1986 founded the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project. The ACLU works for fairness and equality to affect change in the courts and legislatures, as well as in the court of public opinion.Today, the ACLU brings more LGBT cases and advocacy initiatives than any other national civil rights organization in order to create a society in which lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and people with HIV/AIDS enjoy the basic rights of equality, privacy and personal autonomy, and freedom of expression and association. This means an America where people can live openly without discrimination; where there’s respect for our identities, relationships and families; and where there’s fair treatment in employment, schools, housing, public places, health care and government programs.

Federal Court Upholds Transgender People’s Right to Access Medical Treatment in Prison
Friday August 5, 2011
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the right of transgender people to receive medical care while they are incarcerated. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Wisconsin and Lambda Legal had challenged a Wisconsin law that prohibited prison doctors from prescribing hormone treatment or sex reassignment surgery to transgender inmates. This was a discriminatory law that cruelly singled out transgender people by denying them – and only them – the medical care they need. Read more…
Press Release: 8/5/2011 - Federal Court Upholds Transgender People’s Right to Access Medical Treatment in Prison
Court Decision: read the full text (PDF)

Domestic Partner Registry Not a Violation of State Same-Sex Marriage Ban
Monday June 20, 2011
Judge Daniel Moeser resoundingly rejected today an attack on Wisconsin’s Domestic Partner Registry brought by Board members of Wisconsin Family Action, an organization whose members pushed for Wisconsin’s anti-Marriage constitutional amendment in 2006. Despite securing passage of the amendment by assuring voters that domestic partnerships would still be allowed, the Wisconsin Family Action plaintiffs asserted that the anti-Marriage amendment prohibited the Domestic Partner law passed by the legislature in 2008 to provide crucial but very limited protections to same-sex couples. Read more…
Press release: 6/20/2011 – Court Dismisses Challenge to Wisconsin’s Domestic Partner Law
Letter: 6/20/2011 – Court Decision and Order

ACLU Opposes Discriminatory Lawsuit Challenging Wisconsin's Domestic Partner Law
Friday May 20, 2011
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing the legal challenge to overturn Wisconsin’s law granting limited domestic partnership protections to same-sex couples. The ACLU’s brief was filed on behalf of five couples who stand to lose crucial protections such as hospital visitation, the ability to make certain decisions about medical care and to access family medical leave if the law is overturned. The law is being challenged by an anti-LGBT organization that contends that the law grants same-sex couples a substantially similar status to marriage, which is barred by the Wisconsin Constitution. The same organization originally campaigned to secure the marriage amendment’s passage, claiming at the time that domestic partnerships would not be affected.
Press release: 5/20/2011 – ACLU Opposes Discriminatory Lawsuit Challenging Wisconsin's Domestic Partner Law
Brief of Amici Curiae: Brief of Amici Curiae

Federal Appeals Court Hears Arguments In Case Defending Transgender People’s Right To Access Medical Treatment in Prison
Monday February 7, 2011
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments about the rights of transgender inmates in Wisconsin prisons. The ACLU, the ACLU of Wisconsin and Lambda Legal sued the state on behalf of transgender inmates, some of whom had been receiving hormone treatment in Wisconsin prisons for years. “The district court correctly struck down a discriminatory law that denied transgender people, and no one else, crucial care for a serious medical condition,” said John Knight, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project. “We hope that the court of appeals affirms this ruling and recognizes that medical treatment decisions must be based on medical, rather than political, justifications.” In 2005, the state of Wisconsin passed a law that barred prison doctors from providing transgender inmates medically necessary hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery while in state custody. The court case got media mentions in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a blog of the Capitol Times and Common Dreams.
Press release: 2/7/2011 - Federal Court Hears Arguments In Case Defending Transgender People’s Right To Access Medical Treatment in Prison (PDF)
Audio: 2/7/2011 – Raw audio of appeals court argument

ACLU of Wisconsin Urges Circuit Court to Allow Registered Domestic Partners to Speak in Support of Law
October 1, 2010
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion before a Dane County Circuit Court on behalf of five couples asking that they be allowed to participate in a lawsuit seeking to overturn Wisconsin’s law granting limited domestic partnership protections to same-sex couples, so that they may defend the law. The law is being challenged by an anti-gay organization that contends that the law grants same-sex couples the same status as marriage, which is barred by the Wisconsin Constitution. Read more…
Press Release: 10/1/2010 - Couples Seek To Help Defend Lawsuit Challenging Wisconsin’s Domestic Partner Law

ACLU of WI Will Support State’s Domestic Partner Registry
Friday August 20, 2010
The ACLU of Wisconsin will continue its work to ensure that same-sex couples maintain the basic protections provided in the state’s new domestic partnership registry. “We expected a challenge to the registry in a lower court,” said Chris Ahmuty, ACLU of Wisconsin’s executive director. “We’re fully prepared to help defend the state’s registry so that same-sex couples in Wisconsin can have access to the basic, although limited, legal rights their families need. While the Wisconsin Family Action and the Alliance Defense Fund will attempt to compare the domestic partnership registry to the legal definition of marriage, same-sex couples will seek to demonstrate a factual record of how the protections offered by the registry are quite limited and in no way violate the marriage ban.” Read more…
Press Release: 8/20/2010 - ACLU of WI Will Support State’s Domestic Partner Registry: Same-sex Couples Will Show Registry is Not Marriage (PDF)

ACLU of Wisconsin settles lawsuit against City of Milwaukee Police Censorship of Gay-Themed Play
Thursday July 15, 2010
On July 14, 2010, the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center (MGAC) received a check for $20,000 from the City of Milwaukee in settlement of a federal lawsuit filed on its behalf by the ACLU of Wisconsin. The suit alleged that the City violated the First Amendment by shutting down “Naked Boys Singing,” a musical play with gay themes that has been produced around the country, after receiving complaints from a citizen who objected to its content. “Good theater sometimes challenges convention,” said Paul Masterson, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center. “The police should not shut down a play because some people find it offensive.” Read more…
Press Release: 7/15/2010 - Lawsuit Over Police Censorship of Gay-Themed Play Settled: City Pays Milwaukee Gay Arts Center and Clarifies Theater License Requirements (PDF)

Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Decision on Marriage Amendment Referendum: ACLU of Wisconsin Responds
Wednesday June 30, 2010
The ACLU maintains that the marriage amendment's second clause only prohibits 'marriage by another name' which confers all the benefits, protections, and responsibilities of civil marriages. The Court's decision means the fight for recognition of same sex domestic relationships will continue to advance, a fight in which the ACLU will continue to participate vigorously.
Press Release: 6/30/2010 – ACLU of Wisconsin Statement on McConkey Decision (PDF)

Wisconsin Federal Court Says Transgender People Must Be Allowed Medical Treatment in Prison
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Wednesday struck down a law that barred transgender people from receiving medical care while they are incarcerated. The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal challenged the law in January 2006 on behalf of transgender prisoners, some of whom had been receiving hormones in Wisconsin prisons for years prior to the passage of the law. The lawsuit charged that it is a violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection as well as the guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment to bar transgender inmates from access to individualized medical care. The legal groups based their challenge on federal case law that establishes that health care providers must determine proper treatment for all prison inmates. Read more…
Press Release: 4/1/2010 - Wisconsin Federal Court Says Transgender People Must Be Allowed Medical Treatment in Prison
U.S. District Court decision: Sundstrom v. Frank

Victory! Challenge to Domestic Partner Registry Thrown Out by State Supreme Court
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union celebrated a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to dismiss a challenge to the state’s recently-enacted domestic partnership registry. Read more...
Press release: 11/04/2009 - Wisconsin Supreme Court Dismisses Challenge to Domestic Partnership Registry: Committed Couples Can Continue to Enjoy Limited Protections Offered by Registry

For more resources and information on the ACLU’s work on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people across the nation, please visit the ACLU’s LGBT rights webpage.