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Civil Rights

Equality under the law and equal access to all the rights and benefits of citizenship are fundamental in a democracy, and yet in 2011 we saw discrimination against gays in the military and in the public schools, as well as denial of marriage equality. In the electoral arena, we saw an assault on voting rights for students, seniors, minorities and the poor.

Ever since the mid-1990s, CREDO has fought against the military’s infamous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which forced gays, lesbians and bisexuals to hide their sexual orientation or face discharge. After more recent CREDO actions against it, Congress approved a bill to repeal this discriminatory policy, President Obama signed it, and the military officially ended it in September 2011. Meanwhile, anti-gay bullying became so prevalent in a Minnesota school district that several teenage students committed suicide. CREDO targeted Rep. Michele Bachmann, herself a former student of that district, asking her to denounce anti-gay bullying and 146,052 members signed our petition. To top it off, the petitions were delivered to Bachmann’s office by Tammy Aaberg, whose 15-year-old son Justin had taken his own life after bullying. Though Bachmann didn’t denounce bullying, she made her first public statement addressing the matter in response to our petition.

On a different front, we continued our fight for marriage equality. CREDO members in New York have long urged elected officials to pass marriage-equality legislation granting equal marriage rights to all couples, and in June 2011, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law making New York the largest state in the nation to approve same-sex marriage. The fight continues as six other states have approved similar legislation, and more will consider it in 2012.

Our right to vote is one of the most fundamental and valuable rights as American citizens, but 2011 saw a wide-ranging effort across the states to disenfranchise voters through restrictive new laws that require photo IDs, which make it harder for those who move a lot, like students and low-income people, or those who don’t drive, like senior citizens, to be able to vote. CREDO members pushed back against these right-wing efforts in North and South Carolina, Texas, Missouri and Pennsylvania, targeting state officials as well as U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The fight continues as GOP state legislators, fueled by ALEC and Koch brothers-affiliated conservative groups, aim to disenfranchise voters in an election year.

2011 Activism home