ACLU – May 19, 2025

Posted on May 19, 2025

Tomorrow is the ACLU’s annual Giving Day – a moment when we pause, reflect on victories achieved, and share the urgency of the ACLU’s work.

In a minute, I’m going to ask you to make a donation toward our $100,000 Giving Day goal to advance our liberties. But first, I’d like to take a moment to share some reflections with you about our ongoing work to defend civil rights against the Trump administration’s attacks.

We’re in a truly unprecedented moment when it comes to the fight for civil liberties. Since taking office, the Trump administration has attacked immigrants’ rights and LGBTQ rights. They’ve undermined free speech and attempted to deport individuals for their political views.

But here’s what gives me hope: Since day one of the new administration, the ACLU has fought in the courts, legislatures, and the streets to defend our civil rights against any attack:

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  • We and our affiliates have joined the legal teams of students and scholars targeted by the government in retaliation for their speech in support of Palestinian rights, including Mahmoud Khalil, Dr. Badar Khan Suri, Rümeysa Öztürk, and Mohsen Mahdawi. We will always fight to protect the First Amendment.
  • We’re suing in response to Trump’s threats to slash funding to schools that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and for removing medical research by private doctors from a government website for including the words “LGBTQ” and “trans[gender].”
  • We’re suing the Trump administration to protect gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Next month, the Supreme Court will decide the outcome of our case, U.S. vs. Skrmetti, which could secure the right to health care for transgender youth nationwide.
  • We’re suing the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs for information about DOGE’s secretive efforts to access and analyze Americans’ sensitive personal information. These lawsuits come after those agencies failed to promptly respond to the Freedom of Information Act requests that we filed with over 40 federal agencies.
  • We’ve had 17,000+ people join Know Your Rights trainings on immigrants’ rights. Trainings of this kind have been so impactful that Tom Homan, head of border enforcement, complained about how disruptive they have been to planned ICE raids.

All of this work is powered by the support of more than 1.3 million members, including people like you, Kendall, who continue to support our work and defend civil rights alongside us.

But our work isn’t over. In fact, it’s just getting started.

That’s why today, before we officially kick off the ACLU’s Giving Day, I’m urgently asking: Will you make a donation to make sure we meet our $100,000 goal? Thank you so much for all you do. I’m so grateful to have you in this fight with us.

Anthony D. Romero
Pronouns: He, him, his
Executive Director, ACLU

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ACLU of Washington
P.O. Box 2728
Seattle, WA 98111-2728