LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California clarified to Los Angeles City Council today its stance on the collection of racial profiling data by the LAPD, which is a requirement under the federal consent decree.

Staff Attorney Catherine Lhamon provided the following statement to members of the City Council:

I wish to clarify the ACLU of Southern California's position on the collection of LAPD racial profiling data, which was mischaracterized in yesterday's Daily News. The ACLU-SC strongly supports collection of LAPD racial profiling data as quickly as practicable, as well as full compliance with the terms of the consent decree negotiated between the City and the United States Department of Justice. As we have repeated time and again, we believe the persons living, working, and traveling in Los Angeles deserve review of police practices to ensure that race does not determine their treatment at the hands of our police. It is essential that data collection not be delayed.

As the consent decree requires, the LAPD must collect comprehensive data concerning the putative reason for a motorist or pedestrian stop. The LAPD must record not only the apparent race of the persons stopped, but also identifying information for the officers involved and the date and time of the stop, the reason for the stop, and the circumstances of the stop, including whether the persons were searched and why and whether the persons consented to such a search. This crucial information begins the important process of monitoring police practices to hold our officers accountable to the public.

Certainly the methods for analysis of the data, once collected, are also critically important, and the public deserves information regarding the various options for data analysis, including information concerning which data collection methods are already in use in other cities and states. We remain bewildered by closed-door exclusionary practices that prevent the community from participating in key components to implementing meaningful police reform, and we expect that the LAPD and the City will immediately begin involving community members in the process of determining how to analyze the data to be collected. But that imperative to involve the community cannot impede the progress of the actual collection. The consent decree mandates that the collection begin by November 1, 2001, and our community deserves nothing less.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today announced a suit on behalf of Los Angeles mural artist Mike McNeilly against the City of Los Angeles demanding that the city allow the artist's patriotic murals to remain on display. The ACLU/SC suit on behalf of the artist cites his First Amendment right to engage in non-commercial political speech.

"Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we have seen Americans reaching out to each other as never before. In our own ways, many of us have sought to display both our shared love for this country, our concern for those who lost their lives, our admiration for those who have displayed uncommon courage in the midst of the chaos that surrounds us, and our devotion to the principles of freedom and democracy at the heart of our Constitution. Mike McNeilly is one such person," said Dan Tokaji, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California.

A few days after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, McNeilly erected a large mural entitled "9-11" with the words "God Bless AMERICA" beneath the images of a New York City firefighter, an American Flag and the face of the Statue of Liberty. The mural was erected on a privately owned building in Westwood with the consent of the building's owner. On September 21, 2001 the City of Los Angeles issued an order asking the artist to remove the "9-11" mural. McNeilly refused to take down the mural and has recently erected a new mural entitled "Liberty and Justice 9-11".

"There is no justification for such infringements on private noncommercial speech," said Tokaji. "This is especially true when the City not only tolerates but welcomes both commercial and noncommercial artworks of comparable size on other buildings, from the many lively paintings on buildings lining Sunset Blvd., to paintings of classical musicians next to the 110 freeway downtown, to giant-sized paintings of Shaquille O'Neill and Wilt Chamberlin on a hotel near the Staples Center."

"If there is anything that we should learn from our history," said Tokaji, "it is that the values that people are so talking about these days ? freedom and democracy ? are most in jeopardy in times of crisis. Now is a time when we should be most vigilant to protect those freedoms that make this country great and that unite us as Americans."

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California hailed yesterday's expansion of domestic partners' rights, as Governor Gray Davis signed into law AB 25, Assemblymember Carole Migden's proposal to build the rights and responsibilities the state confers on those who register as domestic partners.

"This is a pivotal moment in California's relationship to same-sex couples and their families," said Christopher Calhoun, Deputy Director of Public Policy at the ACLU of Southern California. "The state is clearly on the path to equality for same-sex couples, and there's no turning back."

"No other state in America has made these kinds of strides in recognition of same- sex couples without being forced to do so by a lawsuit," said Calhoun. "That makes California a political leader in recognizing same-sex couples and their families �_ and that makes this new law truly historic."

No other state except Hawaii and Vermont, both of which faced legal challenges from same-sex couples, has offered so many rights to same-sex couples.

The victory on AB 25 was hard-won. Civil rights organizations and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community groups throughout the state, led by the ACLU of Southern California, the California Alliance for Pride and Equality (CAPE), and People For the American Way, put together a grassroots campaign to demonstrate the breadth of support in California for expanding domestic partners' rights.

"For the first time in California's history," said Calhoun, "there were more letters, phone calls, e-mails, and faxes in support of an LGBT civil rights bill than in opposition. That's not because the right suddenly stopped opposing equality for LGBT people, but because the LGBT community and its allies mobilized an unprecedented campaign to communicate to legislators and to the Governor their support for AB 25."

Pro-AB 25 activists, co-ordinated by the ACLU/SC and CAPE, attended pride festivals, book festivals, concerts, flea markets, and shopping districts throughout the spring and summer and also organized on-line. Corporate allies Working Assets and PlanetOut helped organize letter and e-mail campaigns.

AB 25 adds numerous rights to California's domestic partner registry, among them:

the right to sue for wrongful death

the right to make medical decisions on behalf of an incapacitated partner

the right to make financial decisions on behalf of an incapacitated partner

the right to adopt a partner's children using the same process stepparents use

the right to relocate with a domestic partner and receive unemployment benefits

the right to use the state's statutory will form

the right of a surviving partner of a state employee to continued health coverage

the right to use dependent health coverage without a state income tax penalty

the right to use sick leave to care for a partner

the right to file for disability benefits on behalf of a partner who is unable to do so

AB 25 also requires insurance companies that make dependent coverage available to include domestic partners and changes the age from 65 to 62 for opposite-sex couples who wish to register.

"Our work on securing equality for same-sex couples is far from finished," said Calhoun. "Even with the passage of AB 25, there are hundreds of rights and responsibilities granted to married couples that are denied to same-sex couples. AB 25 is a big step forward on a long path, but it is not our final destination."