News & Commentary
Matthew Shepard Was Brutally Murdered in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998. Last Night, the City Passed the First LGBT Nondiscrimination Ordinance in the State.
On October 6, 1998, two young men in Laramie, Wyoming, tricked University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard into thinking they would give him a ride home from the bar. Eighteen hours later, a cyclist found the gay student tied to a fence, beaten, burned, and comatose with a fractured skull. He initially mistook Shepard's limp frame for a scarecrow.
I revisit what happened to Matthew She
By Rahul Bhagnari
Cities and Towns in Arkansas Are Turning the Manure of an Anti-LGBT Law Into the Flowers of Equality
What a difference three months makes.
In February, the Arkansas legislature
By Rahul Bhagnari
When Does Your Google Search Become a Crime?
Gilberto Valle typed many things into his Google search bar.
Where to buy the world's largest bakin
By Rahul Bhagnari
Obama Apologized for the Drone Killings of Two Western Victims. What About Everyone Else?
President Obama's recent response to the tragic deaths of two civilians, U.S. citizen Warren Weinstein and Italian citizen Giovanni Lo Porto, in a January 2015 "targeted killing" strike in Pakistan, was remarkable and unprecedented — yet it should not have been.
The president publicly announced the m
By Rahul Bhagnari
215 Reasons Why Section 215 Needs to Go Away
The pressure is on in Congress, where Section 215 of the Patriot Act is up for expiration come June 1. Our fight to rein in the surveillance state got a historic boost last week, when a federal appeals court ruled the NSA’s mass call-tracking program, the first program to be revealed by Edward Snowden, is illegal.
Yet some members of Congress, like Sen
By Rahul Bhagnari
The United States Considers Itself a Human Rights Champion. The World Begs to Differ.
Starting Monday, the United States' human rights record will be subject to international scrutiny by the U.N. Human Rights Council. It may just be the perfect catalyst for the Obama administration to make good on past and present wrongs that should never be associated with a liberal democracy predicated on respect for human rights.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is
By Rahul Bhagnari
Why Are We Still Asking if a Dying Woman Should Be Able to Get an Abortion to Save Her Life?
A recent analysis of abortion attitudes by The New York Times came to the right conclusion: The divide on how Americans feel about abortion is much smaller than partisan politics would have us believe.
But there's a bigger idea that the pie
By Rahul Bhagnari
Newark's New Cop Watch Board Should Be a National Model for Police Accountability
Since 1967, when five days of violent clashes between police and community members left 26 dead and hundreds injured, residents of my great city of Newark have protested police abuse and impunity. A reminder of one of their most desired reforms sits on my desk: a sepia-toned photo of civil rights marchers with signs demanding the creation of a civilian review board to provide citizen oversight of the police.
Nearly 50 years of fortitude later, th
By Rahul Bhagnari
Why Today’s Landmark Court Victory Against Mass Surveillance Matters
In a landmark victory for privacy, a federal appeals court ruled unanimously today that the mass phone-records program exposed two years ago by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is illegal because it goes far beyond what Congress ever intended to permit when it passed Section 215 of the Patriot Act.
The ruling in
By Matthew Harwood
Stay Informed
Sign up to be the first to hear about how to take action.
By completing this form, I agree to receive occasional emails per the terms of the ACLU’s privacy statement.
By completing this form, I agree to receive occasional emails per the terms of the ACLU’s privacy statement.