News & Commentary

The law in Maine is clear: it is illegal to discriminate against people because they are transgender. As a lawsuit that went all the way to the state Supreme Court further clarified, that means transgender girls must not be blocked from using the girls’ restroom at school, and likewise transgender boys must not be blocked from using the boys’ room.

It’s well known at this point that gay kids don’t have it easy in school, at least most. While dealing with your own anxieties about being gay, there are also others’ perceptions of you to deal with. This is exponentially more difficult without support from your family at home.

A decade ago, Mainers went to the polls to affirm the rights of transgender people. Two years ago, the Maine Supreme Court upheld those rights.

You might have heard of a bill making its way through congress called the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act of 2015, or "American SAFE Act of 2015." Despite the catchy title, the bill has little to do with safety. It actually creates barriers against the most vulnerable people seeking safety in the U.S. Unfortunately, the bill has already passed the House and is headed to the Senate soon. We're calling on Senator King and Senator Collins to take a stand against this discriminatory bill and vote no on the "SAFE" Act.

As we blogged about last week, the U.S. Senate has spent several years hemming and hawing over whether to protect LGBT students from discrimination at school. It's been an embarassing parade of inaction, with the original legislation, known as the Student Non-Discrimination Act, not even being given a chance for an up-or-down vote. Finally, yesterday, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota brought up the effort as an amendment to a separate bill as a way of forcing senators to vote on the issue.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s historic ruling on marriage, it’s easy to feel like the law is finally on the side of LGBT rights. But for all the progress we’ve made, there is still much work to be done – especially when it comes to protecting young LGBT students.

Hugging the shore of the St. John River, just a short Tom Brady pass away from Canada, the beautiful little community of Madawaska proudly proclaims itself as the most northeastern town in the United States and one of America’s “four corners.”

Recently, two stories have brought renewed attention to the Pledge of Allegiance and students’ rights to choose whether not to recite the pledge in school. 

Every fall, the ACLU of Maine hosts three regional student conferences that bring together students from across the state to learn about the civil rights and civil liberties that matter most to young people. Not every school is able to attend those conferences, however, whether because of scheduling conflicts or just sheer travel distance. So to make sure that no schools are left out, we hit the road every year during the spring semester to take our presentations into classrooms in every corner of Maine.