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LBGT Rights
 The modern gay rights movement began dramatically in June 1969 in New York City's Greenwich Village. During a typical raid, police tried to arrest people for their mere presence at a gay bar, but the patrons of the Stonewall Inn fought back -- and the gay rights movement was launched.Using many of the grassroots and litigation strategies employed by other 20th century activists, gay rights advocates have achieved significant progress, and the struggle for legal equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) people has now moved to center stage. LGBT people are battling for their civil rights in the Congress, state legislatures, courtrooms and in the streets. The ACLU maintains that those rights are based on several fundamental constitutional principles:
**Equal protection of the law, guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and reinforced by hundreds of local, state and federal civil rights law;
**The right to privacy, or "the right to be left alone," guaranteed by the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments;
**Freedom of speech and association, protected under the First Amendment.
Publications
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Know Your Rights publication gives overview of legal issues for transgender people, including discrimination, family matters, and health care coverage.
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Too High A Price: The Case Against Restricting Gay Parenting |
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The ACLU of Massachusetts is a proud sponsor of Courting Equality: A Documentary History of America's First Legal Same-Sex Marriages
Text by Patricia A. Gozemba and Karen Kahn
With Photographs by Marilyn Humphries
"Marilyn Humphries' stunning photos show both what the struggle for equality looks like and what it feels like. She, Patricia Gozemba, and Karen Kahn have documented an important piece of American history." —Mary L. Bonauto, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, Lead counsel, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health
"A very important book. Too often, political literature focuses on the bad news, Courting Equality tells some very good news very well." —Congressman Barney Frank
"A remarkable chronicle of exactly how social change happens." — Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home and Dykes to Watch Out For
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