It's time to unfold your rainbow flags and join the ACLU/SC as we proudly kick off LGBT Pride month during June.  This is the month each year when the LGBT community celebrates our diversity, strength, and accomplishments.
Though the past year has been one of many challenges, we still have numerous things to celebrate.  We're closer to a full repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell; the Department of Justice no longer defends the Defense of Marriage Act; gays and lesbians are no longer precluded from adopting children in Florida; and a new cross-national study shows that a majority of countries are more accepting of homosexuality; and protections for LGBTQ students are moving their way through numerous legislative bodies around the country.
As the first ACLU affiliate in the country with a lesbian and gay rights chapter, the first to pass a policy affirming "the right to privacy in sexual relations," and the first to hire a full-time LGBT rights attorney , we certainly take pride in the role we've played in advancing the LGBT civil rights movement.  More than four decades later, our LGBT Project continues its commitment to broadening the bundle of rights our community enjoys.  
This month we will be celebrating LGBT Pride month by honoring Dan Savage and the It Gets Better Project  at our annual Law Lunch, by tabling at L.A. Pride on June 11-12, by announcing later this month a new project to advocate on behalf of LGBTQ students, and, of course, by continuing our work on behalf of those members of our community who reach out to the ACLU/SC for assistance.
Stay tuned here this June for more information about the work our LGBT Project is doing with pride.

We need checks on the government’s power -- we needed them when the country was founded, and we need them now -- because the government can and frequently does get it wrong.  And, when the government mistakenly marshals its resources against an individual, it can cause great harm.  That’s why we have a Bill of Rights and why, in particular, we generally require the government to comply with due process before depriving a person of his or her liberty or property.

So it’s no surprise that a federal judge recently ruled with the ACLU of Southern California and against the Orange County District Attorney’s lawless attempt to enforce an anti-gang injunction against individuals who had not been provided the opportunity to prove that the government got it wrong in labeling them gang members. The L.A. Times agreed with us, as well, in its May 29^th editorial on the topic:

May 29, 2011

Earlier this month, a federal judge put the brakes on Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas' reckless attempt to enforce an anti-gang injunction against dozens of men and women who never had the opportunity to challenge his designation of them as gang members.