Today was another typical day in the life of the staff at the ACLU of Maine.  We had a staff meeting at 4 pm to check in on the various activities of our staff.  And here's a sampling of what we did just today:

Public Education Organizer Jon Gaither had just returned from a full day of teaching young people about the Bill of Rights and the Constitution at Scarborough High School.  The ACLU of Maine will teach hundreds of Maine high school students from dozens of Maine high schools about the Bill of Rights this year.

Public Policy Counsel Alysia Melnick stopped in to the ACLU of Maine offices between coalition meetings.  She spent the morning in meetings with our allies at the Maine Choice Coalition and the Coalition for Maine Women where she shared strategy with our coalition partners about access to birth control for women.  In the last two weeks, the ACLU of Maine has been quoted on television, the radio, and newspapers about the Obama Administration's decision to require birth control be provided free to all women as part of basic health insurance coverage.   Alysia left our staff meeting to go to the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition meeting at 5:30 at the offices of the Catholic Diocese of Portland to discuss legislative and legal strategies to advance immigrants' rights.

Legal Director Zach Heiden had spent the day writing a legal reply brief on the First Amendment issue of whether bloggers should be allowed to discuss Maine political candidates freely on the Internet without sanction by the Maine Ethics Commission.  We think that Internet speech, particularly on political matters, should be entitled to the same protections as political speech in newspapers or other traditional media venues.

Development Associate Ed Reilly was interrupted from making calls to ACLU supporters about our upcoming Justice Louis Scolnik Dinner, scheduled for May 3, to honor Augusta Attorney Walt McKee for his pro bono advocacy on criminal justice issues.  If you would like to sponsor the dinner (and our illustrious legal program), you can contact Ed at the office at 774-5444.

Administrative Assistant Ryan Mack had engaged in multiple telephone calls with members of the public seeking legal assistance.  The ACLU takes only a small number of cases each year, but we have brought more cases to the United States Supreme Court than any other organization in the country except the United States Government.

Contract Organizer Heather Martin called in late in the day to report that she continues outreach to Republicans and to weekly newspaper editors about Governor LePage's dangerous proposal to exempt the Governor from Maine's Right to Know laws

And me?  I spent the day interviewing candidates for the campaign manager position for the Maine Freedom to Marry campaign with our fellow members of the Steering Committee for the 2012 campaign to win marriage at the ballot:  EqualityMaine, EngageMaine, Freedom to Marry, Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and Maine Women's Lobby.  Ending discrimination against gay and lesbian couples in Maine by passing marriage equality in November 2012 is a top ACLU priority this year.  This is not a new priority for the ACLU, which brought its first LGBT legal case in 1936.

I was inspired at the end of today's staff meeting.  With a small professional staff and a large volunteer base, the ACLU truly makes a difference on all of the civil liberties and civil rights issues I care about every day.