News & Commentary

Today, 44 U.S. senators sent Attorney General Jeff Sessions a letter expressing strong opposition to his reversal of the Department of Justice's position that made clear that discrimination against transgender people was a violation of federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination, such as Title VII.

The ACLU of Virginia supports unequivocally the freedom of professors, students and administrators to teach, learn, discuss and debate or to express ideas, opinions or feelings in classroom, public or private discourse.

The decision to represent Jason Kessler, organizer of the Unite the Right rally, wasn’t an affirmation of his views — which we abhor — any more than our advocacy for freedom of religion signals support for the use of religion as a justification for discrimination.

Guest Blog by Diane E. Burkley Alejandro is a member of the Fairfax Virginia People Power Group. Ms. Alejandro wrote about how her local People Power group has worked to advocate for the ACLU's Freedom Cities model policy.

Voting, like freedom of speech and religion, is a fundamental right that government cannot deny. It is time we made clear that the vote is the essential currency of democracy, and it belongs to the people.

As Virginia voters prepare for the fall elections for our three statewide offices, it’s important to focus some attention on the race for the job of attorney general. Here are some questions to ask that will help you decide whom to hire as Virginia’s lawyer when you enter the voting booth on Nov. 7.

On April 6, 2017, our client Gavin Grimm attended the "Civil Rights Under the Trump Administration-The First 100 Days" forum held by members of the House of Representatives to speak about his case and the fight for transgender rights, which is gaining momentum across the nation.

On Wednesday, March 15, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with local, state, and federal law enforcement representatives in Richmond on violent crime and public safety. Our Executive Director Claire Guthrie Gastañaga addressed a crowd of protesters, who showed up to oppose the Trump administration's unconstitutional policies, in front of the SunTrust Center, where the meeting took place. You can watch her address here:

Please re-watch our Facebook Live review of the 2017 General Assembly session regarding civil rights and civil liberties in Virginia. In this video, we discussed major bills that we'd like Gov. Terry McAuliffe to veto and explained why those bills, which concern free speech, immigrants' rights, LGBT rights, and voting rights, are harmful to civil liberties in Virginia.