LOS ANGELES - In a victory for civil liberties, the Los Angeles City Council today passed a resolution condemning the unconstitutional aspects of the USA-PATRIOT Act. The City of Los Angeles is the largest locality in the country to pass such a resolution, joining over 230 cities, counties and even states throughout the nation that have passed similar resolutions.

"This is a huge victory for civil liberties," said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "Los Angeles is the largest city to pass a resolution in support of civil liberties and critical of the USA-PATRIOT Act. Angelenos should be proud that their City Council stands on the side of those who believe we can be both safe and free. Today's resolution sends a clear message to those who assume that Americans will tolerate the erosion of our basic Constitutional rights."

"As a city, we pride ourselves on being inclusive and protecting the basic rights of all people," said Councilmember Jan Perry, the sponsor of the resolution. "Significant portions of the PATRIOT Act destroy the spirit of inclusion and encourage racial profiling and other violations of our rights as people of this great nation. This is an opportunity for the City of Los Angeles to join other major cities across the nation to voice its concern to our federal government."

Wednesday's City Council action takes place less than 24 hours after President George W. Bush, in the State of the Union address, called for a permanent extension of the broad new powers granted to the government under the USA-PATRIOT Act. Currently, portions of the law are designed to "sunset" after 2005.

"The City Council's actions underscore the fact that there is widespread opposition to the PATRIOT Act," continued Ripston. "All across this country, people of all walks of life and of all political persuasions are continuing to voice concern about the expansion of government powers under this Administration."

"Clearly there are enough reservations about the PATRIOT Act as it stands now - any talk of expanding the Act is not grounded in reality," she added.

The USA-PATRIOT Act was passed on October 26, 2001, just 45 days after the September 11th attacks. The 342-page piece of legislation was passed with little debate by the Members of Congress, most of whom did not even read the bill. The Act gives the Executive Branch sweeping new powers that weaken the American system of checks and balances that is designed to guard against government encroachment.

"The PATRIOT Act trashes the checks and balances that guard against tyranny," said Councilmember Eric Garcetti, who voted in favor of the resolution. "Instead of fighting Americans' real fears with hope and strength, it exploits our fears by turning everything from following the immigrant dream to patronizing the library into an act of suspicion. I am proud to stand with the City of Los Angeles and call upon Congress to take our liberty and our security seriously."

ACLU and Statewide Coalition Announce Largest Ever Study of Anti-Gay Harassment in Schools, Showing Strong Need and Proven Solutions

Study Providing That Schools Can Take Steps To Improve Student Safety Has National Implications for Addressing Harassment on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

LOS ANGELES - Despite an anti-harassment law that took effect four years ago this month, harassment and bullying based on sexual orientation remain persistent and pervasive in California schools. 7.5% of California's middle and high school students, more than 200,000 students every year, are targets of harassment based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, according to a study released by the California Safe Schools Coalition, a statewide coalition of experts and advocates of which the ACLU is a leading member. The Coalition is working to implement the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in California schools. The Safe Place to Learn study found that widespread bullying has dangerous academic, health and safety consequences for students - but it also found that such bullying is preventable.

"We've just completed the largest ever study of the problem of anti-gay harassment in schools," said Christopher Calhoun of the ACLU of Southern California, a member organization of the California Safe Schools Coalition, "and the numbers paint a stark picture. For most students targeted on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, California's groundbreaking school nondiscrimination law is still an empty promise."

"It's time for school districts and the state to wake up to a health epidemic of shocking proportions and with serious consequences," said Calhoun. "This problem cannot be trivialized or denied. Fortunately, our research also demonstrates that schools can take clear steps to prevent this problem."

Among the findings in the Safe Place to Learn Study are:

Data from the CHKS show that these 200,000 students harassed on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation are

' three times more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe,

' more than twice as likely to be depressed, to consider suicide, or to make a plan for suicide.

' more likely to have low grades, use drugs, smoke, drink alcohol, or be victims of violence.

' more likely to report weaker connections to peers, community, teachers and other adults - critical safety nets for any young person.

The in-depth companion survey found that school campuses in California are hostile climates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students and gender non-conforming students.

' Two in every three LGBT students reported harassment based on sexual orientation, and 47% of LGBT students experienced repeated harassment.

' Almost half of their peers agree that their school is not safe for LGBT students.

' 91% of all students report hearing their peers use slurs about sexual orientation.

' More than 40% reported hearing teachers making such negative comments or slurs.

' In addition, 27% of students reported being harassed because they weren't "masculine enough" or "feminine enough," and more than half of all students said their schools are unsafe for boys who aren't as masculine as other boys.

The Safe Place to Learn study proves the effectiveness of several specific steps schools can take including posting and enforcing anti-harassment policies that specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity, training teachers and staff to intervene when slurs are used, and supporting efforts to establish Gay Straight Alliance clubs on campus. These steps result in reducing harassment and name-calling, improving students' feelings of safety, and strengthening their connections to community and adults.

"Students deserve to learn in an environment that helps them reach their full potential," said Molly O'Shaughnessy, the Director of the California Safe Schools Coalition. "This study proves that schools can take these specific steps to reach that goal."

California is among nine states with laws against discrimination or harassment in schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

"As more and more states pass nondiscrimination laws, and as lawsuits proliferate, schools are beginning to realize they need solutions," said Calhoun. "Our report provides research-based solutions to this national epidemic and can help schools comply with the law and create a safe place to learn for all students."

The Safe Place to Learn study, which analyzes survey responses from more than 237,000 students who took the California Healthy Kids Survey, it includes 26-times more respondents than any other survey on the issue in the nation. It is also the first comprehensive statewide analysis of harassment based on sexual orientation and gender nonconformity in California, where more than one-in-eight of the nation's children are growing up.

The report analyzes data from the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), a broad-based state survey, and an independent companion survey conducted by the California Safe Schools Coalition measuring the effectiveness of school anti-harassment practices. The data were analyzed by the California Safe Schools Coalition and researchers at UC Davis' 4-H Center for Youth Development.

Members of the California Safe Schools Coalition include the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California; Anti-Defamation League; California Teachers Association; Equality California; Gay-Straight Alliance Network; Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network; Human Rights Watch; L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center; National Center for Lesbian Rights; Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays; San Diego LGBT Community Center; Transgender Law Center; and Women's Educational Media.

(LOS ANGELES) Today the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of artist Tom Forsythe in a case involving the artist's use of the Barbie doll in his art work and Mattel's efforts to suppress that use through invoking copyright and trademark infringement. The court handed the litigious toymaker a decisive defeat, all but eliminating its hopes of preventing artists from using the image of its iconic doll to critique the values they believe it represents.

"The Ninth Circuit made a very strong statement on behalf of artists' free speech and cultural criticism in the context of corporate intellectual property," said Annette Hurst, who argued the case before the Ninth Circuit and is attorney with the firm Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin. "In light of the Court's strong direction that attorneys' fees should also be awarded, Mattel's directors and shareholders must now consider whether protracted and expensive losing legal battles against artists are really a good expenditure of corporate resources."

"We are very pleased by the Court of Appeals' decision, which accepted virtually argument we made in support of the District Court's ruling granting summary judgment to Mr. Forsythe," said Doug Winthrop, also of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin. "This is a complete victory for Tom Forsythe and for other artists and commentators who have been attacked by overly-aggressive intellectual property owners. We also are very pleased by the Court of Appeals' reversal of the District Court's ruling denying Forsythe's request for $1.6 million in attorneys' fees. We think the writing is on the wall that Mattel is going to have to pay a substantial sum for having brought this baseless action."

The case, Mattel v. Walking Mountain Productions, centered on the corporate control of public symbols and the issue of whether artists have the right to transform the intellectual property of others in order to criticize such symbols and comment on society.

Artist Tom Forsythe, of Kanab, Utah, has used Barbie dolls to parody Barbie's embodiment of America's culture of consumption and conformism. His "Food Chain Barbie" series of photos appeared in galleries and won critical acclaim in juried competitions. In August of 1999, Mattel sued the artist for copyright and trademark infringement. The firm Howard, Rice and the ACLU of Southern California stepped in to stop Mattel's use of litigation as a method of bullying artists into abandoning their First Amendment rights.

"Today's ruling is a critical victory in the effort to maintain our right to speak out and critique a world increasingly dominated by corporate speech and brands," said Peter Eliasberg, Managing Attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. "The Ninth Circuit made it absolutely clear that the corporate world can't ban satire."