Wyoming has just become the only state in the union without a chapter of the ACLU. Linda Burt, the now ex-executive director of the
Wyoming ACLU:
“People are asking me, ‘Where am I going to go now? Who’s going to help me?’” Burt said. “And I don’t know where, and I don’t know who. We were the only people who did certain kinds of work.”
She said her office’s closure came as a surprise, and she learned she would be terminated just 10 days in advance. The act was part of a round of nationwide ACLU layoffs that also affected workers in New York, California and Washington, D.C. The national office declined to comment for this article but earlier issued a statement that read, “ACLU will continue to have a presence in [Wyoming] with restructured staffing,” though it is unclear what that will look like. Its New York office will handle Wyoming’s legal intake.
This is a big blow since Wyoming is borderline-insane-conservative and while small, the ACLU served an important function there—as they do elsewhere.
“There are very few places to turn to in Wyoming for help if you feel like your rights are violated. I can probably count them on my fingers,” said Ron Akin, the chairman of the Wyoming ACLU’s advisory board. “Without the ACLU in Wyoming, it’s basically open season on civil liberties and civil rights.”
Wyoming's Republicans have shown only the strangest glimpses of
sanity over the last few years. But then again, probably
only glimpses. The ACLU's work is important across the country and it is very sad to see them unable to stay on the ground in a state that is attacking
people's liberties.