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In February 2009, a Fresno television newscast aired a video of a police officer repeatedly punching Glen Beaty, a homeless man, as two officers took him into custody. In the video, Beaty does not appear to be struggling, resisting, or doing anything else that could warrant this level of force: he is lying on the ground as one officer holds his arm and the other punches him in the head. His arms a... Read More

The ACLU of Northern California announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with the Vallejo City Unified School District on behalf of a high school student who faced anti-gay harassment and discrimination from teachers and school staff and was required to participate in a school-sponsored "counseling" group designed to discourage students from being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans... Read More

For Rochelle Hamilton, starting high school was the beginning of relentless harassment from teachers and school staff because she's openly gay. One teacher told her, "You're going to hell. This is a sin." Another said, "What's wrong with you? What are you, a man or a woman?" After months of asking the school and the district to intervene – to no avail – Rochelle and her mom reached out to the ACLU... Read More

A Federal judge approved an historic $2.35 million class action settlement to hundreds of Fresno's homeless residents. United States District Judge Oliver W. Wanger had previously ordered that the City and the California Department of Transportation had violated homeless residents' constitutional rights in the practice of immediately seizing and destroying personal property. Throughout a two-year ... Read More

After your support drove the California Legislature to send a letter rejecting the Department of Motor Vehicle's proposal to begin embedding biometric information—face and fingerprint scans—into drivers' licenses, a senate subcommittee voted yesterday to delete the facial scan proposal from the DMV's contract with drivers' license providers.Senators Simitian and Lowell, who voted to delete the pro... Read More

Today, in a 6 to 1 decision, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the ballot measure that eliminated the right of same sex couples to marry. In the ruling authored by Chief Justice Ronald George, the Court stated "We emphasize only that among the various constitutional protections recognized in the Marriage Cases as available to same-sex couples, it is only the designation of marria... Read More

Today the ACLU of Northern California has asked school districts in Sonoma County to comply with California law by replacing abstinence-only sex education with curricula that teach about condoms and contraception, as well as abstinence. the ACLU has requested written confirmation that abstinence-only instruction currently provided in some junior and high schools by an outside agency called Free to... Read More

Ever whiled away five minutes on a Facebook quiz, finding out what cartoon character is your look-alike or how your IQ stacks up? These quizzes may seem like a perfectly harmless way to spend a few spare minutes. But have you stopped to think about what these quizzes are learning about you and how that info could be used? Take our quiz and learn more!QUESTION 1: When you take a Facebook quiz, the ... Read More

On May 16, 2008, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California drafted and submitted an amicus brief in San Leandro Teachers Association v. San Leandro USD with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the ACLU Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties. The question presented in the case was whether a school district employer could censor political messages–concerning the loc... Read More

On May 18, 2009, ACLU Foundation of Northern California announced a settlement with the Vallejo City Unified School District on behalf of Rochelle Hamilton, a high school student who faced anti-gay harassment from teachers and school staff. The settlement is designed to combat harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity at all the district's schools, and includes ... Read More