News & Commentary

Due to the rising number of COVID-19 infections in West Virginia, ACLU-WV has decided to indefinitely postpone our one-night outdoor showing of “The Fight,” which was scheduled for Aug. 28 at Mylan Park in Morgantown.

Support for DC statehood is growing, and as West Virginians, we have an opportunity to help ensure the 700,000 Americans living in Washington, DC -- who are mostly Black and brown -- achieve full voting rights and representation in Congress. The lack of voting rights for DC residents is rooted in systemic racism, and it’s time to right this historic wrong. Like West Virginia, and the other 36 states admitted into our union following the original 13 colonies, Washington, DC should be granted statehood by a simple majority vote in Congress.

Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV), and the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic filed a federal lawsuit asking a court to declare West Virginia’s birth certificate policies relating to transgender people unconstitutional.

Once a decade, West Virginia leaders redraw district lines based on the latest Census data.

In a vote of 14-9 with four members absent, Charleston City Council has adopted a bill making the city the first in the state to restrict the horrific practice of conversion therapy. 

ACLU-WV Legal Director Loree Stark sent a letter today to members of Charleston City Council and Mayor Amy Goodwin’s Office regarding Bill 7919, which would restrict so-called conversion therapy.

Today, a federal court ruled that 11-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson must be allowed to try out for the girls’ cross-country and track teams at her school, blocking West Virginia from enforcing a law that bans transgender girls and women from participating in school sports. The ruling came in the lawsuit challenging the ban filed by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of West Virginia, and Cooley LLP.

The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia is urging the City of Parkersburg to reconsider a proposed ordinance “Imposing A Moratorium Upon New Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Group Residential Facilities.”

Today, the Network for Public Health Law, Mountain State Justice, Inc., March of Dimes, Cabin Creek Health Systems, and several pre-eminent West Virginia health experts — including Dr. Cathy Slemp, the former acting state health officer — filed a friend-of-the-court (or “amici”) brief in support of our clients’ lawsuit requesting a federal court in Huntington to issue a preliminary injunction enjoining the enforcement of Senate Bill 334.