This Saturday marks the first official day of summer, and what better way to celebrate than by marching with us through the streets of Portland for the city’s annual Pride Parade? We hope you can join us to show your support, but if not, don’t fear: this won’t be the only time you can connect with us this summer.
We’ve got several things in the works for the months ahead, but first to the Pride Parade and Festival this Saturday: If you want to join us for the parade just meet up anytime between 11am and 12pm by Monument Square in downtown Portland. We’ll even have ACLU t-shirts for our marchers! The parade will wind its way through the streets and eventually end up at Deering Oaks Park, where you can find us at our booth for the ensuing festival! (For more details on the parade, RSVP at info@aclumaine.org.) 
It’s been a banner year for LGBT rights – escalated yet again with today’s historic announcement by President Obama banning workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of federal contractors. If you’ve been to a Pride Parade in the past you know how much fun it is to show our support, and if you haven’t then there’s no better time than this Saturday to get started.
Looking ahead a couple weeks, on July 2nd we’ll be sponsoring a special screening of “The Internet’s Own Boy” at the Space Gallery in Portland. 
This exciting new film follows the story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz. Lots of serious civil liberties issues are raised by Aaron's story, and we hope you'll join us so we can ponder those questions together. (You can watch the trailer here to see what it's all about.) Save the date in your calendar and be on the lookout for more info as the date gets nearer.
As the summer rolls on we’ll be sending ACLU of Maine staff to the Peace Fair in Brunswick (August 2), the Blueberry Festival in Machias (August 15-17), and the Common Ground Fair in Unity (September 19-21). We always love talking about civil liberties so stop by one of these events and let us know what’s on your mind. You can always find our updated list of events by visiting our calendar page.
