On April 4 Illinois will hold elections for local elected offices – like school board, city council, mayor and more. In this episode we were joined by Khadine Bennett, Director of Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs at the ACLU of Illinois to discuss how these local offices are important to protecting rights and civil liberties for your community, and how each vote counts ..read more

Efforts to ban books in public and school libraries across the country has more than doubled in the past year. In this episode we were joined by Deborah Stone-Caldwell, director of the Office of Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association, and Rebecca Glenberg, Senior Supervising Attorney at the ACLU of Illinois to discuss the threats to challenged books across country and in Illinois, and what each of us can do to fight back against these threats in our own communities ..read more

Illinois currently has one of the most restrictive laws name change laws in the country – a law that bans people from being able to change their names for at least ten years. On this episode we discussed the harms that this law imposes and efforts in Springfield to remove this unjust restriction. We were joined by advocates Eisha Love, a transgender activist, and Avi Rudnick a lawyer and the Director of Scattered Site Housing at Chicago House and a Board member of the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois Name Change Mobilization which helps transgender people change their names ..read more

In 2019, Jaylan Butler – an innocent college student returning from a swim meet on his team’s bus – was taken to the ground and had a gun held to his head by police officers in Illinois. Jaylan bravely filed a lawsuit against those officers to hold them accountable for their actions, and that case was recently resolved. We speak with Jaylan about his story, and with ACLU of Illinois Police Practices Staff Attorney Rachel Murphy on how traumatic police interactions continue to harm communities of color throughout Illinois and our country ..read more

We all want young people to be able to talk to their parents about important life decisions. However, the idea that the government can force healthy family interactions ignores reality for many youth and the lasting injuries that result from enforcing these laws. That is why the Parental Notice of Abortion Act (PNA) is dangerous in Illinois and must be repealed. We are joined by Emily Werth, ACLU of IL Women's and Reproductive Rights Project Staff Attorney, as well as two experts who have seen the harms of PNA up close: Dr. Rebecca Commito, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Chicago, and Reti ..read more

From 2016 to 2018, 20,000 people in Illinois were convicted of felonies for possessing small amounts of drugs, and 7,500 were imprisoned. On this episode of Talking Liberties, we are joined by a panel of experts and survivors to discuss why it is time to unwind the War on Drugs and install a public health approach to reducing the harms associated with drug use. We are joined by Lake County Sheriff John Idleberg, Elizabeth Cruz with the Women's Justice Institute, Alex Mathiesen with Live4Lali, and Dr. Juleigh Konchak with the Cook County Public Health Department. You can also learn more about H ..read more

We are joined by ACLU of Illinois Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director Khadine Bennett to talk through the initiatives we are advancing in Springfield in 2021, including ending qualified immunity, reforming drug sentencing and protecting personal privacy, among other issues ..read more

Passionate about a public issue that affects you, your family, or friends? Looking to make your voice heard with the most impact? We have got you covered! This episode, we are joined by ACLU of Illinois Advocacy Associate Chelsea Diaz to talk through the 'how-to's' on the best ways to reach your state legislators, effective organizing in Springfield, how a bill becomes a law in Illinois, and more ..read more

As #TransgenderAwarenessWeek comes to a close, we sat down with ACLU of Illinois LGBTQ and HIV Project Director John Knight to look at the big picture regarding the fight for transgender rights here at home and across the country. We also discuss John's work representing Aimee Stephens, who was part of a landmark Supreme Court decision this year that clearly determined it discrimination under federal civil rights statutes to fire someone because they are transgender ..read more

Got questions about voting in Illinois ahead of November 3rd? We've got answers! In this episode, we speak with Matt Dietrich, Public Information Officer at the Illinois State Board of Elections, and Michelle Hernandez, ACLU of Illinois Advocacy Associate, to discuss changes to election laws in 2020, early voting, voting by mail, voting in jails or with a record, and much more ..read more