Around 150 people representing the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut took action at the Capitol in defense of civil liberties.
The ACLU teamed up with Compassion and Choices Connecticut, the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance, Hartford Rising and the NAACP Connecticut State Conference to advance important civil liberties in the state.
Stephen Glassman, Executive Director of the ACLU of Connecticut, said, “Our numbers reflect the enthusiasm that people feel for protecting individual privacy, autonomy, due process and equality under the law. People are motivated to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in our state.”
Activists met with elected officials and urged them to support priority areas for legislative advocacy, which include:
- Police militarization. We need transparency and oversight when police acquire military equipment and use it in SWAT deployments.
- Due process. Let’s get the “transfer statute” repealed so that the state can’t put another child in prison without criminal charges or trial, as it did with the transgender girl known as Jane Doe.
- Privacy rights. Police should have to get a warrant before they fly a surveillance drone into your back yard or get records of your phone calls and movements from your cellphone carrier.
- Aid in dying. Mentally competent, terminally ill patients deserve the right to make their own choices about how to die.
- Youth and student rights. We need clear agreements with police officers assigned to schools to reduce criminalization of typical student behavior and cut racial disparities in arrests.
