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Alan Berger Legislative Assistant, ACLU National Lucille MacBeth, mother of slain Florida teen Jordan Russell Davis, did all she could to keep from crying during her testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution earlier this week. After nearly five minutes of testimony, Lucille stopped speaking, looked down and then back up, this time with tears in her eyes: "I'll never get to see my son's prom photo. I never get to hear how much he enjoys his dad's chili. No one else will ever get to know him. He'll never get to join the Marines like he dreamed and all because of guns and the power of these laws. These laws embolden people with hate to take action with that hate." The hearing was to discuss the growth of violence and injustice associated with the "stand your ground" laws on the books in 25 states. Lucille's testimony, along with that of Trayvon Martin's mom, animated a largely academic discussion of the laws that the NAACP lists in their testimony as "the single greatest bringer of angst to our membership."

The 2012 voter purge was like a bad joke – using unreliable government databases, the state of Florida tried to remove people from the voter rolls in the name of fighting voter fraud, but with no actually evidence of voter fraud to be found. The result was a disaster, with elections supervisors describing it as “embarrassing,” “sloppy,” and “disgusting.” Now, to add insult to injury, the state is planning to use the same erroneous databases from last year to make Florida elections the laughing stock of the country again. We don’t trust it, and neither should you: if you or someone you know wrongfully receives notice that you are being removed from the voter rolls, contact the ACLU of Florida for help.

Catherine Merchant, a transgender woman from the Panhandle, was denied a name change by a state judge. Three years later, with the help of the ACLU of Florida, she won in her fight to have her legal name reflect who she is. This is her story in her own words: A name is a very special thing, just a set of words that refer to you more personally than anything else, but I imagine most people go through their whole lives without ever giving their name any real thought. For most, it just isn't something to be concerned about one way or the other.Your name is used hundreds of times, every single day, everywhere you go. It is one of those things you just absorb into your being, one more fact about you. But what if you found out your name isn't really yours? What if every time someone used your name, it simply felt wrong, like people were consistently confusing you with someone else? Or even worse, like they were denying you your true identity?

When I challenged my school's sexist dress code, I was fighting not just for my rights, but for self-expression everywhere.