ACLU Supporter, as the director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, I'm working every day with a dedicated team to stop censorship and ensure all our First Amendment rights are protected. This work is broad-ranging, and it has never been more urgent.

With our nationwide network of attorneys and advocates, the ACLU is at the forefront of stopping large-scale censorship of students, journalists, artists, and protesters – but our work hinges on grassroots support from people like you.

That's why we've launched a $2 million year-end goal. Will you make a donation before December 31 to help defend free speech and all our rights?

The ACLU is not only fighting back – we're winning. This year alone, we've taken 36 legal actions specifically to defend the right to free speech, including:

• Representing four arts organizations in their challenge to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) policy that would deny grants to any artist who "promote[s] gender ideology." In this suit, we fought to protect artistic expression from a government that wants to pick and choose what viewpoints can be expressed – and we won in District Court.
• Suing over and winning a preliminary injunction ordering the Department of Defense to stop classroom censorship in schools for service members' children. Censored items include nearly 600 books related to slavery, Native American history, women's history, LGBTQ history, and other topics banned by President Trump's executive orders.
• Suing and winning a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump administration from censoring important medical research. A government-run website for doctors and medical researchers took down articles and information that the government contended promote "gender ideology" – including any articles containing terms like "LGBTQ" or "trans." We'll keep fighting until we end this anti-scientific censorship for good.

But this work is far from over.

The ACLU is ready to keep confronting censorship with everything we have, but your gift is critical to respond to each and every attack on our free speech and rights. Please donate whatever you can before 2025 ends to join us in this work.

Thank you for your commitment to defending free speech, the First Amendment, and our democracy. It really is a joint effort, and we're so grateful for your support.

With thanks,

Esha Bhandari
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Director, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project