Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness

The ACLU has long worked to promote equality and to eliminate all forms of discrimination. Advocating for equal rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people is a core civil liberties issue. It's not about "special rights"—it's about basic rights.It's about individual freedom and human dignity.

Three of the promises at the heart of the Bill of Rights are that all people will have the right to autonomy, to expression, and to equality.

"The job of the ACLU is to make good on the promises that the Constitution makes to the people."

Through legal and legislative advocacy we directly challenge the constitutionality of marriage restrictions, arguing that the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage discriminates on the basis of sex and sexual orientation and violates the Constitution's guarantees of equality and liberty. Donate Today »

The ACLU also plays a leading role in state-by-state efforts to pass marriage, civil union, and domestic partnership laws and policies and advocates in non-marriage states for recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages. We also work to limit or repeal harmful state constitutional amendments on marriage. And at the federal level, we're pushing for domestic partnership benefits for federal employees and for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.

If you would like to give a gift to the ACLU-NC to acknowledge the marriage of your friends or family members, please click here. Your gift will support the advocacy work of the ACLU's National LGBT & AIDS Project and the wide range of civil liberties work undertaken by the ACLU Foundation of Northern California.