2011 Annual Report

Stories, straightforward and simple, are sometimes the best way to make a point. So, here’s your ACLU of Virginia—a multifaceted public education, lobbying and litigating organization comprised of 10,000 members, 1,500 activists, more than 150 volunteer lawyers and lay leaders, and a staff of nine—explained through a few short stories from the last year.

The stories are about the pursuit of liberty and equality in Virginia, about defending and advancing our constitutional rights by protecting religious liberty, free speech, privacy, reproductive freedom, and the rights of gay men, lesbians, racial minorities, immigrants, students, homeless persons and anyone else who needs it.

These are but a few samples of our work, though, and for each story you see here there are many more like them.

I hope this little report will encourage you to learn more about our work—about the 75-80 bills on which we vigorously lobby in the General Assembly each year, the 25-30 lawsuits or threats of litigation we make each year against local or state governments, the educational events we sponsor around the state, and our use of the media to get out our message. Did you know, for example, that in the last year we made comments supporting civil liberties more than 600 times on radio, television, newspapers or blogs?

I hope, too, that you will consider becoming an active part of what we do by signing up for our electronic news service—we call it E-News—or by lending your voice to our cause by becoming a grassroots lobbyist.

Thanks so much for your support. We would not be Virginia’s premier voice for civil liberties without you.