Jay Kaplan, LGBTQ+ Rights Project Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Michigan, reminds us that stories with LGBTQ+ characters have not always been widely available, and that they are necessary to provide readers with someone to relate to and identify with.

High school junior Owen Krueger discusses the importance of learning about our history through reading in order to avoid repeating it.

Today we remember those who have lost their lives to anti-trans violence. Every trans person deserves to live a full, authentic life. #transgenderdayofremembrance #tdor

In 1975, she co-founded Gay American Indians, the first association for gay Native Americans in the U.S. We honor Barbara’s contributions and her vision for a more just future.

Barbara Cameron was a Hunkpapa Lakota artist and pillar of the San Francisco community who advocated fearlessly for lesbian and Two-Spirit people like her, people with HIV/AIDS, and women impacted by violence.

Librarian Juliane Morian believes that public libraries exist to represent and reflect multiple points of view, and that learning blossoms when people read beyond the small portions that they've seen on the internet. According to Juliane, "free people, read freely."

We must put an end to ICE detention which separates families and puts our immigrant neighbors and friends in danger. To find out how you can help, sign up to volunteer with us.

In the first 9 months of the Trump presidency, at least 22 people have died while in ICE custody. In the spirit of the Day of the Dead, many gathered outside the Grand Rapids ICE field office on Saturday to honor the lives lost.

“They are still providing hormone therapy protocols for cisgender patients, which does raise civil rights issues,” said Kaplan. “We’ve spoken to families. We’ve encouraged them to file complaints with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and request that it be investigated.”

In Michigan, where state civil rights protections extend to transgender people, U-M and Corewell’s decisions to stop providing gender-affirming care to trans minors appears to be “clearly discriminatory,” according to ACLU-MI staff attorney Jay Kaplan. https://t.co/ou2N4iv1hu

Do you remember Judy Blume’s book, ‘Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret’? So do we. And so does Jenny Carney, co-owner of Sidetrack Bookshop in Royal Oak. Find out the impact Blume’s books had on her as a kid and why she says banning books like Blume’s is harmful to children.

We urge all local law enforcement agencies to NOT enter into 287(g) agreements with ICE. Communities are safer when local law enforcement builds relationships with immigrant communities, rather than sowing fear.

for fear that they or their family members will be questioned, detained, or deported.

Local law enforcement agencies exist to protect and serve all Michigan residents, including our immigrant communities. 287(g) agreements harm public safety as they discourage our immigrant neighbors to report crimes...

On Monday night, community members packed the Center Line City Council meeting to voice their opposition – and it worked! Less than 48 hours later, Center Line announced that it has rescinded the ICE agreement.

Recently, Center Line entered into a 287(g) agreement with ICE. These agreements are part of the Trump administration’s cruel and aggressive deportation agenda.

Thank you to everyone who voiced their fierce opposition to Center Line entering into an agreement that allows their police officers to do federal immigration enforcement – round up and detain immigrants – on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

High school senior Shruti Attili discusses the importance of representation in books, and why we cannot succumb to having our voices silenced through book banning.

Despite this, ICE is still illegally holding countless dads and moms behind bars without due process. “Well, if ICE isn’t stopping, we’re not stopping either." Miriam Aukerman, Senior Staff Attorney, who led the team that won the release of Jose and seven other noncitizens.

About a hundred federal courts nationwide have ruled that noncitizens like Jose Contreras Cervantes, who have been living in the U.S., have the right to go before an immigration court judge and seek release. https://t.co/ozgiKBZ3a9