Civil Liberties

1. Race Minorities: Education, mass incarceration, segregation
2. Women: Attacks on health rights
3. Workers: Attacks on the right to organize, earn a livable wage, and breathe healthy air
4. Elderly and Disabled: Voter disenfranchisement
5. Gays/Lesbians: Housing security, job security, marriage rights, hate crimes, school bullying

We thought we won the civil rights battle in the 1960s. However, fundamental civil rights have been eroded. The Indiana General Assembly has been chipping away at the rights of women, racial minorities, gays/lesbians, workers, and the elderly/disabled. Women have faced a limitation of health options. Gays/Lesbians have faced a constitutional amendment preventing any legal or financial protections for their relationships. Workers have suffered a stripping of their rights to organize. For racial minorities, the NAACP recently released a report titled "Misplaced Priorities" that documents government spending on prisons to the deficits of education, disenfranchising primarily young Black men for minor drug offences. The elderly are disproportionately affected by new laws that make voting difficult for those for whom mobility is problematic. The Indianapolis City-Council has voices protecting the rights of each of these groups, but more voices are needed to prioritize equal protection unde the law for all citizens, in the face of extremist religious conservatism that has pervaded our political institutions.

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