ACLU Supporter, 2022 saw our civil rights challenged in unprecedented ways – from the overturn of Roe to mounting efforts to suppress the vote to scores of hateful attacks on trans youth, and more.
But ACLU is no stranger to the fight for our rights.
But with the New Year fast approaching, we know this collective power is going to be even more critical in the fight ahead. And make no mistake, we have long game plans to ensure that meaningful change is made – we’ll just need you with us. Here are six of the many key areas where we know we absolutely must be ready in 2023:
The Fight:
Anti-abortion politicians pushing new bans on access to care and preparing for unjust criminalization against patients and providers.
Our Plan:
Keep up our massive multi-pronged approach across the states and federally with the full force of our organization – through litigation, advocacy, and organizing – to defend those impacted by the immediate harm of Roe’s fall, and double down on our long-term efforts to enshrine the right to reproductive health care beyond the scope of a single court case.
The Fight:
State legislative sessions starting in January with bills attacking trans rights – and ongoing anti-trans policy and rhetoric nationwide.
Our Plan:
Advance our defensive and affirmative work strategy in courts, statehouses, and communities to protect access to gender-affirming health care, battle discrimination against trans people in athletics in states including Idaho, Tennessee, and West Virginia, continue to defend the rights of transgender students to safe and inclusive schools, defeat laws that would make it harder for trans people to get accurate state IDs, and continue public education efforts by elevating the positive stories of trans youth and adults through multiple platforms.
The Fight:
Coordinated attempts to suppress voters’ rights in the lead-up to the 2024 election.
Our Plan:
In courts and statehouses nationwide, continue our full-scale defense against state-level efforts to interfere with free and fair elections, fight in Congress for federal voting rights legislation and ensure the Biden administration fully implements their voter registration executive order, while also doubling down on our proactive efforts to increase access to the ballot box, in states like New Mexico, Connecticut, and Michigan.
The Fight:
Coordinated efforts to censor students’ and educators’ right to teach and learn about race and gender in our classrooms.
Our Plan:
Advance all our current legal cases against classroom censorship laws in Oklahoma and New Hampshire, while using our recent win against Florida’s unconstitutional Stop WOKE law to bolster similar fights across the nation – litigating and challenging the wave of censorship legislation that threatens the First Amendment right of students and educators nationwide to talk and learn about the complete history of discrimination that Black and Brown people and LGBTQ individuals continue to face in our country.
The Fight:
Attacks on immigrants’ rights by elected officials.
Our Plan:
Keep up the pressure to defeat dangerous policies that threaten the rights of immigrants to seek safety in the US and keep immigrant families apart – while simultaneously urging the Biden administration to rebuild a more humane asylum system and end the ICE detention machine once and for all.
The Fight:
Since the nation’s founding, racist policies and laws have led to an unequal system impacting the lives of Black people nationwide.
Our Plan:
In the New Year, we will prioritize our ongoing dedication to the critical long-term work required to reinforce and escalate our Systemic Equality priorities – ACLU’s racial justice agenda that seeks to end discriminatory laws and policies rooted in America’s legacy of racism through advocacy efforts and legal strategies that aim to ensure equal access and opportunity for all.
This is how we can protect people’s rights and uphold democracy.
Are you ready to show up in 2023?
Remember, the six areas we have covered above are only some of the many fights that our lawyers, advocates, and organizers are leading efforts on in the year ahead – we’re also relentless in our defense of racial justice, privacy rights, protestors’ rights, freedom of speech, and all of our freedoms.
But we still hope this email gives you a sense of the fights we have ahead of us, ACLU Supporter – and more importantly, that we at the ACLU are ready to push forward with everything we’ve got for the civil liberties of us all in 2023. And it is with you fighting alongside us that we will make change happen.
Together, we show up. Together, we win.
To 2023 and beyond,
The ACLU Team
American Civil Liberties Union
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10004, USA