News & Commentary

As the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin (ACLU-WI), and a gay man, I spend a lot of time defending or promoting the civil liberties and rights of other people, regardless of their sexual orientation.  The freedom to marry is an exception.  Thirty-four years ago, when my partner Bob and I got together, very few people or groups talked about marriage equality for gay couples.  Whether or not we wanted to marry wasn’t even a topic for discussion.  Thirty-four years ago the conversation around LGBT rights was much more likely to be about police harassment, unpunished hate crime violence, and job discrimination. 

We did not quite make it through the legislative maze to get the 2nd Chance Bill passed this session, but we will bring it back next year. The bill would reverse some changes enacted in 1995, which reduced the age at which a person is considered an adult for purposes of prosecution from 18 to 17. Currently, only about one in 20 arrests of 17-year-olds are for a serious crime, and only about one in 50 arrests are for offenses classified as violent. “The vast majority of arrests of 17-year-olds are for rela

By Molly Collins

Less than a decade after the state voted to enact a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, a recent study shows a major change in Wisconsinites’ attitudes toward gay and lesbian couples and their civil rights.

Diamond Nexus; one of the largest online, lab- created engagement jewelers in the country; has announced its official sponsorship of PrideFest Milwaukee, and its partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin Foundation in support of marriage equality. Diamond Nexus is also the first official lab-created jeweler and crown maker for the Miss Universe Organization. Through these partnership

The U.S. remains the only country in the world that imposes LWOP on children. The international community has long recognized that people who committed crimes as children deserve a second chance. It's time for the U.S. to follow suit.   This piece was reblogged from ACLU.org.

The American Civil Liberties Union's primary work is litigation, but this month it's moonlighting as a wedding planner as part of its role in the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

Salud Garcia and Pam Kleiss