This is one in a series of profiles marking the 60th anniversary of the ACLU of Kentucky’s founding. Each week through December 2015 we will highlight the story of one member, client, case, board or staff member that has been an integral part of our organization’s rich history.
Alicia Pedreira
“It was my name, but it was no longer about me. It was about a principle-what’s right and what’s wrong.” – Alicia Pedreira
WATCH Alicia Pedreira share her powerful story here.
Alicia Pedreira is the plaintiff in a long-pending lawsuit against the state and a state-funded private entity, Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children (now Sunrise Children’s Services). The organization fired Pedreira for being a lesbian, saying that was inconsistent with the organization’s religious-based standards. Though Pedreira was transparent about her sexual orientation with the organization’s officials before she was hired, a picture of Pedreira and her girlfriend, entered in a Kentucky State Fair photography exhibit without her knowledge, led to her firing.
In 2000, the national ACLU’s LGBT Project and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State joined the ACLU of Kentucky to file suit on Pedreira’s behalf, seeking to challenge the state’s funding of the organization. In addition to basing employment policies on religion, the organization was pressuring young people in its care to participate in religious services. After several years of continued litigation, Pedreira’s discrimination claims were dismissed on the basis that, although religious-based discrimination is unlawful, the discrimination at issue here was based on her sexual orientation and not her religious affiliations.
Fifteen years after it was first filed, attorneys are still working to resolve this case in a satisfactory manner that will help protect the religious liberties of those Kentucky children who are placed in the state’s care. The ACLU-KY salutes our clients who, like Alicia Pedreira, have been willing to put themselves forward to help fight injustice. And even though the ACLU-KY often works to bring clients relief quickly, the sustained support of our donors and members ensures that we are able to pursue justice for our clients even where, as here, the case lasts for more than a decade.