The ACLU of Southern California is proud to announce that its Deputy Executive Director James Gilliam is the recipient of the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association of Los Angeles’ 2012 Co-Presidents Award.
The award recognizes Gilliam’s tireless efforts and work to stop bullying, particularly against LGBTQ students. In September 2010, he launched and serves as the director of the Seth Walsh Student Rights Project, following the suicide of 13-year-old Seth Walsh of Tehachapi. Gilliam worked with Seth Walsh’s mother to advocate against his school district after Seth hanged himself to escape years of painful bullying and harassment he experienced at school for being gay.
According to LGLA, Gilliam was selected for the award because he “identified an unmet need in the community and decided that need had to be met with information that empowers individuals.” The project’s mission is to stop unlawful bullying in California schools and to create school communities that promote safety and respect for all students. Gilliam has also been an assiduous advocate of anti-bullying legislation and tolerance education in the Southern California community, leading to the passage this year of Seth’s Law. He will also be recognized for his many years of dedicated service to the LGBTQ community as an attorney and longtime civil rights activist.

James Gilliam, pictured with Judy Shepard (left) and Jane Velez-Mitchell.

“I remember those painful years of growing up being bullied and harassed in my home state of Tennessee just because I was gay,” said Gilliam. “No child should have to suffer humiliation or die by his own hand simply because of who he is. I’m proud to direct a project that works to protect LGBTQ students and to serve as an example that they can lead fulfilling, proud lives and not live in fear.”
Gilliam has been the deputy executive director of the ACLU/SC since 2010. Before joining the civil liberties organization, he was a litigation associate and pro bono coordinator at Paul Hastings. He served as co-chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Sexual Orientation Bias committee for several years and has served on the board of directors for the National LGBT Bar Association. He teaches seminars on sexual orientation law and public interest law practice at Loyola Law School.
“We feel privileged to work with someone as courageous as James, who has dedicated himself to stop bullying and help save the lives of LGBTQ students,” said Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU/SC. “James has become a national spokesperson on the issue of bullying, and we are extremely proud that people around the country are looking to the Seth Walsh Student Rights Project and James as a resource for addressing bullying and the fatal consequences it can have.”
In 2010, the National LGBT Bar Association named Gilliam one of the Best LGBT Attorneys Under 40, and in 2011 KCET honored him in its inaugural class of LGBT “Local Heroes.”

Like thousands of other people in 2006, Jose Franco was detained by immigration authorities. Most detainees are either deported to their country of origin or released after winning their right to remain in the United States. But this case took a different route. Mr. Franco has a mental disability. In many respects, he functions at the cognitive level of a small child: he cannot tell time and he doesn't know his own address. When he appeared in immigration court, he was told by the immigration judge that his deportation proceedings would be suspended until he could undergo a psychological evaluation. But when immigration officials refused to conduct the evaluation, Franco was lost in a loophole in our immigration detention system.
Without the required psychiatric evaluation, and without an attorney (people imprisoned in immigration detention don't have a right to an appointed attorney), Franco remained in immigration prison in Southern California for four years. He spent half of his twenties deprived of the company of his large extended family and the specialized medical care he had received at home, while literally nothing happened in his immigration case.
Franco's story is not unique; challenging the government's conduct in his case led the ACLU to uncover an entire class of individuals who have faced or are facing a similar predicament. We know that dozens of mentally incompetent people are currently imprisoned in immigration detention centers throughout the country. The Obama administration estimates that over a thousand people with serious mental illnesses remain trapped in immigration detention at any one time.
As shocking as that may seem, it's not surprising if you consider the Obama administration's inhumane record on immigration. The Obama administration has detained and deported immigrants at a greater rate than any previous administration -- over a million since he took office. He's on track to deport more people in four years than the Bush administration did in eight.
Ironically, the Obama administration has taken this draconian approach at a time when we can least afford it. Official estimates of the cost of ICE incarceration are $120 per day. American taxpayers may have paid up to $175,000 to incarcerate Franco for four years.
People with serious mental disabilities are uniquely vulnerable to being lost behind bars. Under rules that the Obama administration has continued to defend, immigration officials force people like Mr. Franco to defend themselves without an attorney, even though they may not even have the capacity to understand why they are detained.
Last week, a ray of hope shone through the murk of the immigration detention system. Representative Pete Stark (CA-13) introduced H.R. 3881, the Ensuring Mental Competence in Immigration Proceedings Act. The bill would give immigration judges the authority to order competency evaluations for detainees like Franco who may not be competent to represent themselves. It also makes clear that when a detainee is found not to be competent and doesn't have a lawyer, the judge should either dismiss his case or appoint an attorney.
Jose Franco's story led to a rare moment of unity between Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Senator Dick Durbin of Ohio during a Senate hearing in November. Senator Durbin seemed disgustedthat mentally ill people were being imprisoned for long periods of time.
"If we're going to take the responsibility of incarcerating them, we have a responsibility to treat them humanely," Durbin said.
Secretary Napolitano agreed. So do we.