Project Director or Senior Supervising Attorney

The Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU, Inc. (“ACLU of Illinois”) seeks a Project Director or Senior Supervising Attorney to build and lead litigation and, in collaboration with other Departments, non-litigation advocacy to promote the ability of LGBTQIA+ people in Illinois to live with dignity and full equality.

ABOUT THE JOB

 The Legal Department of the ACLU of Illinois works with colleagues across the organization to advance civil rights and civil liberties throughout Illinois using strategic litigation, legislative and other advocacy with governmental officials, and public education. Our work focuses on fighting institutional and structural racism that undermines civil rights and civil liberties, including in the criminal and civil legal systems and immigration; protecting democracy by advancing First Amendment rights, government transparency, and voting rights; promoting access to reproductive health care, the rights of LGBTQIA+ communities, and gender equity; and addressing and preventing the harm experienced by people in government care, including in the foster system, prisons, jails, and juvenile detention facilities.

Our LGBTQ & HIV Project seeks to protect LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination so that all Illinoisans can fully participate in public life and not be judged based on characteristics like sexual orientation or gender identity. We advocate for people who are transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming, so that they are able to live their authentic lives free from discrimination in employment, with access to accurate identity documents, and with equal access to all facilities in places of public accommodation, including schools. Core priorities of our work are to litigate on behalf of trans people in state and federal prisons, advocate for affirming care for LGBTQIA+ youth in the foster system through our enforcement of the B.H. consent decree, and to identify issues impacting LGBTQIA+ people who are people of color, poor, or experience marginalization along other dimensions, such as homelessness. We combat arguments to justify discrimination against LGBTQIA+ communities based on religious refusals and seek to build relationships with partners and stakeholders so that our litigation is client-centered and advocacy is community engaged. We recognize that litigation is only one tool in a broader social movement to advance equality and justice for LGBTQIA+ communities.

The LGBTQ & HIV team is dedicated to helping ensure the Legal Department meets emerging threats to civil rights and civil liberties. Recently, attorneys on the team helped investigate emergency litigation on behalf of medically vulnerable immigrants detained by ICE …