News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin continues to oppose sex segregation in a proposal for a charter school that will be considered by the Madison Metropolitan School District later this month. This week, the ACLU issued a letter to the school board outlining its concerns with the research and legal justifications for single-sex education in the Madison Preparatory Academy plan. The ACLU agrees that students of color in Madison deserve better educational options. However, as coeducation is not the cause of the racial achievement gap, it isn’t a reasonable solution. There is too great a potential for discrimination in sex-segregation. Research cited in the proposal in support of single-gender education are unscientific, biased or don’t actually conclude that sex segregation alone is what contributes to student success. What has been proven in academic studies and journals is that these programs reinforce harmful gender stereotypes and perpetuate the discredited idea that boys and girls learn so differently that they shouldn’t be educated in the same classroom.

In a fast-moving piece of legislation, Senators are using Governor Walker’s special session on job creation to repeal the progress made after the passage of the 2009 Healthy Youth Act. The Healthy Youth Act raised the state standards for public school human growth and development instruction. This bill requires schools to revert back to the proven failure of abstinence-until-marriage types of instruction. This bill even redefines what “medically accurate” and “age appropriate” means.

Student free speech should include the right to wear breast cancer awareness bracelets, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation and cooperating attorneys today. The suit was filed on behalf of a middle school student at Sauk Prairie Middle School who along with many classmates wore an "I ♥ Boobies! (Keep A Breast)” bracelet to school and prompted a school ban. “While a public school can put some reasonable limits on expression that poses a credible threat of a disruption of its educational activities or school mission, the mere discomfort some may have with the bracelets’ slang language is not a justification for banning the bracelets and punishing students who wear them,” said volunteer attorney Tamara Packard.

Student free speech should include the right to wear breast cancer awareness bracelets, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation and cooperating attorneys today. The suit was filed on behalf of a middle school student at Sauk Prairie Middle School who along with many classmates wore an “I ♥ Boobies! (Keep A Breast)” bracelet to school and prompted a school ban.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit today upheld the right of transgender people to receive medical care while they are incarcerated.

The ACLU of Wisconsin urges the Wisconsin legislature to slow down the rush to redraw state legislative districts so that affected communities have time to fully review and respond to the proposals. Federal law prohibits the drawing of districts that have the effect of diluting minority voting strength.  Determining whether a plan dilutes minority voting strength requires careful consideration of a number of factors and alternative plans.  That analysis cannot be completed on the timeline contemplated by the legislature. The important task of redrawing of district lines demands deliberation and public input. Rushing the plan through without thorough analysis creates the risk that an illegal plan will be adopted.

Today Christopher Ahmuty, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin issued the following statement in response to Governor Scott Walker signing a bill that repeals a new law designed to help police managers identify biased policing. The law set up a system to collect and analyze data on the race and ethnicity of motorists when police officers initiate certain types of traffic stops or conduct searches of vehicles. Ahmuty’s statement may be quoted as follows:

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.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Wisconsin Foundation, and Disability Rights Wisconsin filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division charging discriminatory practices in Milwaukee’s private voucher schools have led to an egregious segregation of students with disabilities. The complaint was filed against the State of Wisconsin, its Department of Public Instruction and two voucher schools. The groups say that Wisconsin has failed to hold taxpayer-funded private voucher schools accountable for serving children with disabilities, and has created a program that segregates and isolates children with disabilities.