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home > about us The History of the ACLU of Utah In 1958, Adam "Mickey" Duncan traveled to the national office of the ACLU in New York and secured the charter for the Utah Affiliate. Prior to 1958, ACLU members in Utah were led by Spencer W. Kimball, Jr., dean of the University of Utah Law School. Late 1950s, Early 1960s: Without any paid staff, and working on a shoestring budget, the Utah Affiliate of the ACLU worked to improve jail conditions and to stem the abuse of police powers. Volunteers working with the Utah ACLU succeeded in challenging police "sweep" policies in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods and pushed the Utah Legislature to enact a bill guaranteeing equal access to public accommodations. Although there was an enormous public outcry over discrimination by the Hotel Utah against African Americans, the public accommodations bill died in a Senate committee after being passed by the House of Representatives. Late 1960s, Early 1970s: The Utah affiliate joined national efforts in 1967 to challenge the punishment of war protesters by draft boards that reclassified students who participated in antiwar protests. Throughout the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the ACLU of Utah fought to protect against sexual assaults on prison inmates, the firing of pregnant school teachers, prayer in public schools, laws prohibiting the inclusion of minor political parties on ballots, racial discrimination in private clubs, and ordinances banning X-rated theaters. Mid-Late 1970s: During the mid-70s, the Utah ACLU invested heavily in the First Amendment through a series of challenges to obscenity statutes and ordinances, including an appeal of the conviction of a woman charged with selling "obscene" books, most of which were available at the Provo City Library. The Utah affiliate also won an important victory in the United States Supreme Court, which held that states may not refuse unemployment benefits to women 12 weeks before the expected date of childbirth until 6 weeks after childbirth on the basis of a conclusive presumption that women are unable to work during that period of time. Is the statute . . . void in that it denies to her rights which are given to males? We do not think so. Should a man be unable to work because he was pregnant, the statute would apply to him equally as it does to her. What she should do is to work for the repeal of the biological law of nature. She should get it amended so that men shared equally with women in bearing children. If she could prevail upon the Great Creator to so order things, she would be guilty of violating the equal protection of the law unless she saw to it that man could also share in the thrill and glory of Motherhood.In 1976, Utah ACLU hired its first full-time Executive Director, Shirley Pedler, who led the organization through a pivotal period of growth and hard-fought battles. Notwithstanding Gary Gilmore’s death wish, the Utah affiliate worked tirelessly to prevent his execution in 1977. During the same year, the Utah ACLU challenged the close connection between LDS seminaries and public schools, arguing that the granting of public school academic credit for seminary classes violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. During the late 1970s, the Utah ACLU also addressed many classic civil rights problems, such as police abuse (as when the Salt Lake City Police Department turned its K-9 Corps loose at a Hispanic gathering), prayer in public schools, and voting rights for students at the Job Corps and the Intermountain Intertribal Indian School. 1980s: During the 1980s, the Utah affiliate of the ACLU fought to protect: Juvenile Rights, including cases against the State Industrial School and the Provo Canyon Boys School, challenging inhumane conditions of confinement. Gay and Lesbian Rights, including the defense of a young man entrapped by a decoy employed by the BYU Security Office and a challenge to the firing of a gay employee of the University of Utah Medical Center after he advised his supervisor that he would appear on a televised documentary about gays in the LDS Church. Due Process Rights, as in the successful fight against the practice of strip and body-cavity searching of women booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on minor violations. First Amendment Rights, including the successful challenge to the notorious Cable TV Decency Act, passed by the Utah State Legislature over Governor Scott Matheson’s veto and ruled unconstitutional by the federal courts. Inmate Rights, including several lawsuits involving overcrowding of jails and prisons, the denial of inmate access to the courts, and inadequate medical care for inmates. 1990s: The 1990s have brought tremendous growth to the Utah ACLU, unprecedented numbers of volunteers, and a broad range of important civil liberties issues that may have gone unresolved without the work of the Utah affiliate. Michelle Parish, who served as Executive Director from 1989 until 1993, was succeeded by Carol Gnade, Utah ACLU’s current Executive Director. Among the battles waged by the Utah ACLU during the 90s are: The overturning by the federal courts of the Utah State Legislature’s 1991 anti-abortion statute, the most restrictive anti-choice legislation in the country. The successful effort to bring about significant changes in the facilities and means of caring for mentally ill inmates at the Utah State Prison. The successful challenge to an illegal secret meeting of many members of the Utah State Senate, the focus of which was a gay- and lesbian-bashing discussion and video film. A lawsuit against the Salt Lake School District in connection with the prohibition of gay, lesbian and straight support groups. Increasing public awareness of the brutal treatment of mentally ill inmates at the Utah State Prison and working with corrections officials to revise policies and procedures, especially after an inmate died as a result of being strapped down to a restraint chair for 16 hours. A suit against Nebo School District on behalf of a teacher who, after she revealed that she is a lesbian, was fired as volleyball coach and received a memo from the district instructing her not to discuss her personal life with students, parents or employees. The above is only a partial history of the Utah Affiliate of the ACLU. The daily work of the Utah ACLU includes researching the facts surrounding complaints of civil rights abuses, mediating the resolution of many disputes, lobbying against proposed legislative bills that pose threats to the constitutional rights of Utahns, educating our community about civil rights issues, and resorting to court action to establish important legal principles for the protection of individual rights and liberties. The Utah ACLU does not promote a particular political point of view, except to the extent that it advocates and seeks to vindicate the constitutional rights of everyone. The national organization has represented very different people – from the neo-Nazis in Skokie and Oliver North to John Scopes and the Industrial Workers of the World. Similarly, the Utah ACLU has pursued a principled approach to civil rights advocacy, never considering the political leanings or the popularity of those it represents, but focusing solely on the important constitutional issues at stake. According to the Utah ACLU, Due Process is for all; Equal Protection is for all; Freedom of Speech and of Religion is for all. Our members and our volunteers are proud of the tradition of vigorous advocacy by the Utah ACLU in the name of freedom and liberty. And they are proud to be "card-carrying members," without whom the work of the ACLU and the Utah affiliate would be impossible. Return to top of the page |
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