2015 Impact Report

The 2014-2015 fiscal year was one marked by accomplishment on many fronts. Our efforts on marriage equality with Freedom Nevada and the Sevcik v. Sandoval suit, our push to expand as well as defend immigrant rights, our vigilance on police conduct, our education efforts and policy work in sex education, and the numerous victories of our legislative and legal teams made for a successful year.

Ongoing analyses of each school district’s sex education policies and curricula proved successful in rural counties such as Lyon, Douglas, and Lincoln. While success has been elusive in Clark County, we will not rest until all counties in our state teach age appropriate, medically accurate, comprehensive sex education. With the statewide review of every school district’s sex education policies and curricula we seek to ensure all children receive proper education about their own health.

Heading into the 2015 session of Nevada Legislature, we planned for an onslaught of legislation attacking civil liberties. These bills materialized almost daily, but we defeated bills that sought to promote religious proselytizing in schools, roll back reproductive choice, impose voter id requirements, make religious-based discrimination legal in places of public accommodation, and mandate a discriminatory bullying policy requiring transgender students to use a separate bathroom in schools.

With our legal department under new and talented direction, we have been building our legal docket to take on some of the most egregious cases that violate the principles of equality, liberty, and justice. In October we were victorious in Sevcik v. Sandoval in the Ninth Circuit, securing the right of all Nevadans to marry the person they love. We also prevented a racially inequitable and discriminatory voter suppression initiative.

However, there are still many issues requiring our attention and resources. Inaccurate, discriminatory, and archaic sex education is still being taught to the majority of Nevada’s students, those incarcerated are treated inhumanely by a corrections system with insufficient safeguards and policies of retaliation over rehabilitation. We continue to work on reforming our juvenile justice programs throughout the state by reducing/eliminating solitary confinement and transfering youth from adult facilities to youth facilities. The most vulnerable among us are locked away and mistreated, denied medical services, and rehabilitation and reintegration services. Immigrants are still profiled and singled out for harassment, detention, family separation, and displacement.

READ THE FULL REPORT