Category: civil liberties

This is excellent news for all concerned. Thanks so much, Senator! Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) today announced that he is co-sponsoring legislation introduced by Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman to repeal the ban on openly gay service members in the military. S. 3065 was introduced on March 3, 2010.

“For almost two decades, ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ has placed an unjust burden on qualified service members who are forced to hide who they are in order to defend our country,” Udall said in a statement released today. “Repealing this policy is the right thing to do. As Barry Goldwater used to say, ‘You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight.’ It’s time to end this discriminatory policy that has kept too many patriotic Americans from serving our country.”

From ACLU New Mexico:
The Northern Regional Office of the ACLU of New Mexico will be hosting a community meeting with Al Bronstein, founding Executive Director of the ACLU National Prison Project. Mr. Bronstein was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for his contributions in the development of prisoners’ rights and correctional case law. He has been listed numerous times as one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal and has argued numerous cases in federal trial and appellate courts as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. During the mid 1960s, Mr. Bronstein litigated civil rights cases in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at 3:00 PM, at the Santa Fe Public Library-Community Room located at 145 Washington Street in Santa Fe. This is an opportunity for the community to hear from Mr. Bronstein about his efforts in prisoners’ rights and work as a member of the Assembly of Delegates, World Organization Against Torture (Geneva). For more information, contact the ACLLU Northern Regional Office in Santa Fe at (505) 982-8181.