News & Commentary

The ACLU of Rhode Island released the following statement today in response to reports of police actions yesterday at William E. Tolman Senior High School (VIDEO) and during the resulting protests this morning in Pawtucket:

By Megan Khatchadourian, Assistant to the Executive Director

By Johanna Kaiser, Development & Communications Associate

By Johanna Kaiser, Development & Communications Associate

For the third time in five years, the ACLU of Rhode Island has sued the City of Providence for interfering with the exercise of free speech rights on the City’s streets and sidewalks.

By Dan Kennedy

The ACLU of Rhode Island has asked the Pawtucket City Council to "forcefully and publicly reject any future efforts to intimidate members of the public who are exercising their First Amendment rights at City Council meetings" after a recent council meeting was halted because a member of the public refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has requested the “gag order” issued for the settlement discussions in the pension case be lifted now that plaintiffs are voting on a possible settlement agreement. In a letter delivered Friday to R.I. Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter, the ACLU said that since the “broadly written” gag order was issued to protect the confidentiality of the mediation process, it is “counter-productive and unduly intrusive on basic First Amendment values to allow it to remain in effect” now that that task is completed. In the letter, ACLU of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown noted that, as plaintiffs began an expedited process of considering and voting on a settlement agreement, various explanations of the agreement have circulated with no public details coming from those who know what it contains.

Despite decades of progress toward gender equality, in Rhode Island today gender-exclusive student events that are specifically held for girls or boys with the active support of elementary schools help to perpetuate blatant gender stereotypes. Almost invariably, the girls’ events, organized by parent-teacher groups and publicized by the schools, are dances, with another gender-stereotyped event, like a pajama party, occasionally taking their place. By contrast, and just as invariably, the events arranged for boys involve almost anything but dancing, are wide-ranging, and focus on purportedly male-friendly activities like sports and arcade games.