LOS ANGELES - A task force that was convened to counter the devastating effects of homophobia in the foster care system in Los Angeles County gathered at the Edelman's Children's Court today to unveil a "hate-free zone poster," which was placed in the Children's Court lobby - as well as to set forth its recommendations on how to address the issue of homophobia in the foster care system.

"The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community is committed to the safety and welfare of LGBT youth," said Martha Matthews, the David Bohnett Attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. "We must fight discrimination, harassment, psychological abuse, and physical assault of youth wherever we uncover it - and youth in foster care are especially vulnerable to abuse based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation, their gender identity, or their nonconformity to gender expectations."

"Some LGBT youth entered the foster care system precisely because of conflicts centering on their gender identity, gender nonconformity, or actual or perceived sexual orientation," said Matthews. "But rather than finding a haven from a home that can't accept their difference, they find instead a system that exposes them to the same risks all over again."

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth nationwide have long encountered harassment, violence, attempts to coerce them into heterosexuality, and other forms of abuse. A lawsuit filed in New York City in 1999 charged that LGBT youth in foster care were routinely targeted with physical and psychological abuse.

The task force has found that Los Angeles-area LGBT youth in foster care face serious challenges as well, and it has begun to document cases of abuse and discrimination. Task force members have collected incidents they've uncovered ranging from adults in a foster home failing to protect a youth from peer harassment, to a Baptist foster family attempting to coerce a youth to become heterosexual, to court staff harassing a male-to-female transgender youth.

33,364 youth are in foster care in Los Angeles County, and reports have shown over the years that the system has failed youth in numerous ways. Task force members believe that homophobia and the resulting physical and psychological abuse of LGBT youth are a troubling and overlooked part of the foster care crisis.

"We know from youths' accounts that, in addition to all of the other problems youth face in the foster care system, LGBT youth face discrimination and harassment based on who they are," said Matthews.

Linda Velasquez, 19 years old, told of her experience in the foster care system, including her experience at a Catholic-run foster group home.

"Coming out as a lesbian in your teens isn't easy no matter where you are, but in my group home, I was treated differently from other residents," said Velasquez. "My actions were monitored more closely. I was told not to talk about my personal life. I wasn't allowed to spend time alone with staff members. I was told that I was confused, and I frequently heard anti-lesbian slurs, which staff members did not attempt to stop. It's almost as if they stopped helping me as soon as they found out I was gay, because they wanted me to leave."

Presiding Judge Terry Friedman will hang a framed copy of the poster in the court house lobby.

"This poster is first step toward raising awareness on these issues," said Matthews, "but much more is needed."

The task force recommended:

' Fully implementing and enforcing the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services' (DCFS) nondiscrimination policy, through: including questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in DCFS's guidelines for needs assessments and placement decisions; enforcing "zero tolerance" of homophobic bias or discriminatory treatment of LGBTQ youth by DCFS employees; acting promptly to investigate and resolve incidents of harassment, violence, or other mistreatment of LGBTQ youth in placements; and requiring all foster and group homes to take responsibility for preventing homophobic harassment, threats or violence by other youth.

' Training for all youths' social workers on: DCFS's non-discrimination policy; how to discuss issues of sexual orientation, sexual behavior, STD prevention, etc., in an age-appropriate and non-judgmental manner with youth; how to find appropriate placements, services and resources for LGBTQ youth; and how to address issues of homophobia with birth parents, foster and group home providers.

' Assigning specialized staff to act as resource persons and backup workers for consultation on all cases involving LGBTQ foster youth.

' Ensuring that all youth's social workers know about resources for LGBTQ youth (such as support groups, specialized placements, etc.), and resources for birth parents, relatives and foster parents (such as Parents and Friends of Lesbians & Gays, etc.), and facilitate youths' and caregivers' access to these resources.

' Conducting outreach to youth in group homes, to ensure that all youth understand DCFS's nondiscrimination policy, know their rights, and know how to report incidents of harassment and violence.

' Ensuring that Independent Living Skills programs are accessible and welcoming to LGBTQ youth, and include anti-bias educational activities.

' Creating a liaison team to work with shelters and service programs for homeless and runaway youth, to address the needs of youth who have run away from DCFS placements, investigate the problems that led to their running away, and re-establish stable placements.

LOS ANGELES - Almost exactly a year after the ACLU filed a case on behalf of the Montebello Ponytail Girls' Softball Association to fight unequal distribution of playing fields between boys' baseball and girls' softball teams, a Federal Court approved a settlement on April 19, 2001, that provides the Ponytail Girls' Association with equal access. The case, Romero v. Montebello, was filed on April 20, 2000, and the law firm of Arnold & Porter acted as pro bono co-counsel in the case. The parties quickly began to work together toward a resolution of the problem, and the settlement this week solidifies the interim changes put in place shortly after the lawsuit was filed by adopting new permit policy to ensure that public field use will be allocated equitably from here on out.

"We were on third base, and this hit brought us home," said Rocio Cordoba, staff attorney atthe ACLU of Southern California. "Score one for the home team. This is a real victory for young female athletes, their coaches, and their families, who showed that by asserting their rights, they could take on a system of long-standing inequity and replace it with fair play and equal opportunity."

"The City of Montebello is to be commended for its commitment to achieving equity and doing the right thing for girls," said Cordoba. "It saw the needs of the softball players and the constraints they faced under the old system, and worked with the plaintiffs to develop a new model that gives all young people who use the city's sporting facilities full access to the benefits and challenges of athletic participation."

The settlement requires the City of Montebello to develop a new permit policy allocating field time and space strictly according to an athletic group's enrollment numbers, regardless of gender.

This is the second successful settlement of an ACLU of Southern California gender equity lawsuit regarding girls' access to city sporting facilities - a groundbreaking legal strategy that has sparked interest across the country. The first, Baca v. Los Angeles, resulted in a citywide program to increase girls' access to city sporting programs and facilities.

"Community sports programs have always been a key part of children's growth as athletes," said Cordoba, "but cities - until now - haven't been held to a high enough standard in providing those opportunities equally to all children, regardless of their gender."

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU affiliates of Southern California, Northern California, and San Diego joined forces today on behalf of the AFL-CIO, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, Common Cause, and the Chicano Federation of San Diego County to challenge California's flawed and discriminatory voting system. The suit was filed in federal court and alleges that California's hodgepodge of voting systems creates unacceptably discriminatory results in violation of the U.S. Constitution and that its lack of legally binding standards for recounts aggravates these unconstitutional disparities. The suit focuses on the disparities between counties using the now-notorious pre-scored punch card voting systems and those using other, more reliable systems.

The law firms Munger, Tolles & Olson and Altshuler, Berzon, Nussbaum, Rubin & Demain, along with University of Michigan Law Professor Evan Caminker, join the ACLU as co-counsel in the case.

"Our democracy has been left hanging by a chad," said Dan Tokaji, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. "Under our Constitution, every vote should be counted, regardless of where a person lives or the color of his or her skin. Unfortunately, that is not true in California today, thanks to outdated equipment which is the voting equivalent of a horse and buggy. Unless the State takes action, California could become the next Florida."

"In California, every vote doesn't count, especially the votes of African American, Latino, and Asian American voters," said Mark Rosenbaum, Legal Director of the ACLU of Southern California. "The punch-card voting machines used in counties like Los Angeles, San Diego, and Alameda belong in junkyards, not voting booths. Votes are cast - then cast away. For nearly 8 "million California voters in counties using punch-card machines, there is a 2 &Mac189; times better chance of having their preferences recorded on a Lotto card than on an election ballot. This case is Bush v. Gore gone west. California has more in common with Florida than citrus trusts and theme parks - it has voting machines that mock our democracy."

At the time of the November 2000 election, 8.4 million people were registered to vote in counties that used pre-scored punch card technology; over 5.9 million people - 53.4% of voters statewide - actually voted in the November election using a pre-scored punch card system, and over 132,000 of those votes were not counted or were counted inaccurately. Pre-scored punch card machines produce disproportionately high rates of two types of errors: undervoting and overvoting. In overvoting , the machine reads more than one vote, thus disqualifying the vote; in undervoting, the machine fails to read any vote. The combined undervote and overvote, or error rate, averaged 2.23% for counties using pre-scored punch card machines - more than twice the error rate for any other type of machine or system used in other California counties, and nearly four times the error rate of Riverside County's touch-screen voting machines. The error rate in Los Angeles County was 2.7%, or four and a half times the rate for Riverside, at .59%. The number of overvotes and undervotes in Los Angeles county alone - 72,000 - is greater than the entire number of registered voters in 26 California counties.

Nine California counties use one of two punch card systems, the Votomatic, widely used in Florida, and the Pollstar. African American and Latino voters are much more likely to reside in one of the pre-scored-punch-card-using counties. According to one recent study, only 58.3% of white voters resided in counties using the substandard punch card systems, whereas 80.8% of African American voters and 66.6% of Latino voters reside in those counties.

"From the time it was founded in 1957 through today, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has fought for full equality for African Americans and others," said Rev. Norman Johnson, Interim Executive Director of SCLC of Los Angeles. "Equality at the ballot box is the foundation of freedom, the precondition for participating fully in the political life of this nation. Today in California the vote of a person of color is more likely to be overlooked, misread, or discarded than a white person's, and that is simply unacceptable."

"The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project rests its work on the premise that voting is the key to participating fully in our nation's civic life," said Antonio Gonzalez, President of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, "and that premise, in turn, rests on the fundamental principle of democracy: that each vote is equal and that no vote is valued less than any other. We tell our community, 'Su voto es su voz,' or 'Your vote is your voice.' But California, by relying on an inadequate system, blocks out the legitimate voices of thousands of voters, voters who have taken the trouble to fulfill their civic duties."

"In any election, but particularly one with a presidential election that saw a razor-thin margin of victory, it is unacceptable for even one citizen's vote to be disregarded by accidents of residence and the machinery used in one's voting jurisdiction," said Scott Harshbarger, President and CEO of Common Cause. "The injury in this case is compounded by the fact that it disproportionately harmed the same Americans - people of color - who have fought so hard throughout history to knock down the many barriers to the ballot box that they have faced."

Today's lawsuit in California is the fourth such suit that the ACLU or its affiliates have filed since the November 2000 election; the organization filed suits in Florida, Georgia, and Illinois earlier this year. In all four cases, the ACLU targets the discrepancies created by the use of the pre-scored punch card system in some areas and better systems in other areas.

The ACLU's Dan Tokaji noted that the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment in Bush v. Gore paved the way for these challenges.

"We should take the Supreme Court at its word," said Tokaji. "In Bush v. Gore, it ruled that without uniformity in recounts, some voters are disenfranchised and denied equal protection under the law. Our case relies on the same principle."