American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska

Since our founding in 1971, the ACLU of Alaska has been the premier civil rights organization in the 49th state. The ACLU is the nation's guardian of liberty: through our litigation, legislative expertise, grassroots advocacy, and public education efforts, we work to protect the civil rights and individual liberties enshrined in the U.S. and Alaska Constitutions. We strive to ensure that those who have historically been denied their rights are afforded the same protections as everyone else, including people of color, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, prisoners, and Alaska Native peoples.

We address a wide range of constitutional violations and civil liberties issues. Examples include:

• The nation’s first judicial decision that transgender individuals have a constitutional right to a correct gender marker on their driver’s licenses;
• Challenging Alaska's failure to provide non-English ballots and voting materials to indigenous Alaska Native voters;
• An Alaska Supreme Court victory that the government may not discriminatorily tax lesbian and gay couples;
• Defending the right of mentally ill prisoners to apply for parole;
• Resisting legislative attempts to infringe on Alaskan women’s reproductive rights.

In order to do everything we can to defend your civil rights, the ACLU of Alaska consists of two separate non-partisan and nonprofit entities. The ACLU of Alaska fulfills its mission through legislative advocacy, coalition building, and grassroots advocacy while the ACLU of Alaska Foundation pursues the same mission through public education and legal action.