As we wait for the COPA decision, the nervous flutter in my stomach is a personal thing. If the law is found enforceable, will I be among those slated for six months in prison and a stiff daily fine? As an author, I’m taking COPA very personally. Maybe it’s because I lived in fascist Spain in the 1960s and got to see that kind of religious censorship close up, as a U.S. editor working in Madrid, and knew about people who went to prison because what they wrote was viewed as “harmful” to Spanish youth.

It’s very personal — my nine titles for sale on the Web — books that could be deemed “harmful” by any religious nut who decides to lobby for my prosecution. My 1974 gay novel The Front Runner has been sold to public libraries and college courses across the country, where people under 18 can find it. My newest, The Lavender Locker Room, about GLBT people in sports, just went up on the online order page of Wildcat Press, my publishing company, as well as Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and other online booksellers.

I could find myself without my personal freedom and the personal ability to make a living. My body of work, which I have spent 35 years creating and publishing, could disappear in the blink of an eye. Once any author is attacked by COPA prosecution, you can bet your bottom dollar that their books — and any books like them — will vanish from the marketplace overnight. Few online booksellers will want to risk this kind of extreme prosecution and draconian punishment by the government. It will get very personal for them too.

We never lost our lead. It became clear early on that South Dakotans were going to decisively reject the state’s abortion ban at the polls. The final breakdown is 56-44. Voters sent a clear message to the legislature that they had gone too far.

We celebrated our victory last night a little after 11 p.m. CST. Even after CNN called it, we waited. We waited until we were absolutely sure that we had in fact achieved what many thought was unlikely — South Dakotans defeated the abortion ban!!!

Thank you to all of the ACLU members and friends that helped us Get Out the Vote in the crucial days leading up to the election. As soon as the Governor signed the abortion ban last spring, women and their families around the country quickly realized that the South Dakota legislation was a direct attack on the reproductive freedom of all women. Groups of students drove up from Florida, extended families came from New England, medical students traveled from Arizona, only to name a very few.

We joined the hardworking and dedicated grassroots movement and canvassed, phone banked, held signs on street corners, and offered our support to the Campaign for Healthy Families, which the ACLU is a part of.

As a result of the organizing efforts over the last few months (I must say it again), South Dakotans rejected the state’s ban on virtually all abortions! The law will not go into effect!

Our celebration last night didn’t end with our victory in South Dakota. Within the hour, we found out that Oregon voters had decisively rejected a ballot initiative that restricts teens’ access to abortion. A loud cheer carried through the room - these attempts to restrict access to abortion are all different parts of the same agenda. And by early morning, I received an email that California voters had also defeated a constitutional amendment restricting teens’ access to abortion — for the second year in a row!

Someone should tell my body that this race is now over. This morning, I woke up at 6:00 a.m. ready to put on my No on 6 t-shirt and spring into campaign mode. But not today — today is the time to savor these amazing victories against attempts to interfere with our personal and private decisionmaking. Tomorrow will be the day to start figuring out how to start increasing access to reproductive health services.

It’s is 12:45am. Laura Fix and I have been sitting outside the U.S. Supreme Court since 7:30pm and the weather is not on our side. We are 11th and 12th in line for tomorrow’s argument in two chalenges to the first-ever federal ban on abortion practice and it’s pouring.

I think we both managed to figure out how to sleep in our folding chairs with umbrellas propped above us. Of course, no sooner than we finally managed to doze off the protestors started with megaphones. I woke up and for the first time asked myself what I was doing out here. But perfectly timed came a buzz on my cell phone and a text message from my sister that South Dakotans had defeated the abortion ban in their state.

The megaphones and rain continue and we have another nine hours ahead of us, but I got the reminder I needed as to why I am here. Women’s reproductive health care in this country is in desperate need of protection. The defeat of the ban in South Dakota tonight proved that the efforts of the ACLU are paying off. Hopefully the justices tomorrow will recognize the same thing — doctors not politicans should make medical decisions. For now, its back to sleeping in the rain …

Today I learned how big of an impact one person’s activism can have on another. Until today, I spent my time here in Sioux Falls organizing the large number of people outraged by South Dakota’s abortion ban who are volunteering with the Campaign for Healthy Families (www.sdhealthyfamilies.org). In February, the state legislature passed a law that banned virtually all abortions, but before it could go into effect, 38,000 South Dakotans had a repeal of this extreme legislation put on tomorrow’s ballot. My organizing work has been incredible — I’ve met very passionate and generous people who give all of their spare time to fight the extreme and dangerous ban — but it has kept me in an office and away from the action.

Today I joined my fellow activists and became a volunteer. First on the agenda was knocking on doors in one Sioux Falls neighborhood to remind people that tomorrow is Election Day and how important it is to reject the ban on virtually all abortions. At first, I was very nervous, but I was fortunate enough to be with Dahlia, an experienced canvasser, who assured me that this was all part of the political process. We did the first few doors together, and within minutes, I realized how right she was. Folks were all very polite and generally interested in the information I provided. This is clearly an issue that everyone feels quite strongly about, and has both pitted neighbor against neighbor and brought people together. A knock on one door introduced me to a woman who told me that her neighborhood card group had discussed the ban, identified the many ways it could harm women, and decided as a block to vote as a bloc against the ban. One man playing with his kids in his front yard worried about government intrusion into personal and private decisionmaking. Not everyone felt comfortable discussing the ban, and some peered out of their doorways to see if their neighbors were watching. “It takes a lot of guts to do what you’re doing,” a man in one of my last houses said. But by the end of the afternoon, we had knocked on 94 doors, spoke to 28 people, and left 66 door hangers reminding folks to vote tomorrow, and the only thing I was scared of were the dogs that bark at you as you approach the house!

After canvassing, Dahlia and I quickly headed over to phone bank at the Planned Parenthood clinic, the only clinic left in South Dakota. I felt so proud to walk through the doors of this clinic, which continues to provide abortion care in this hostile climate. Understandably, no doctor in the state will compromise their own personal safety by providing abortions, and a doctor flies in once a week (or less!) to provide this important reproductive health service. The employees are truly heroes, and I was so honored to stand in their clinic and contribute to the fight against the abortion ban. Dahlia and I each made over 100 calls tonight, urging people to reject the abortion ban at the polls tomorrow.

I lost count of the number of times that I was thanked today — some of them very quietly — for working against the ban. You could really tell that people drew strength from seeing others take a public stand against the legislature’s disregard of women and families. And that’s why tomorrow morning at 7:15 a.m. I will be standing on the corner of a major intersection asking people to honk against referred law #6. This support is truly some of the most beautiful music you will ever hear. Some folks will honk and others only feel comfortable enough to give a thumbs up or smile, but in this explosive and highly personal election, our presence will give folks the strength to know that they are not alone.

Phone bank volunteers for FAIR Wisconsin

We had hoped to send in more blog posts from Wisconsin than we’ve been able to, but it turns out we’ve been WAY too busy

Fair Wisconsin is amazingly organized. 600 people per week have been going out and knocking on doors, talking face-to-face with their neighbors about the amendment and how harmful and unnecessary it is. Over 10,000 people have donated to the campaign, and 90% of those have been people within the state of Wisconsin — so although a handful of us may have traveled here to help out in the final few days, this is genuinely a local, grassroots effort).

On Tuesday, we expect to have 8,000 volunteers working for 13 hours all over the state. It’s going to be a long haul – our “war room” staff has to be at their site at 6 am and we’ll all be working by the time the polls open at 7 am. Volunteers will be going door-to-door all over the state yet again, reminding people to vote. We got some late polling and it’s really neck-and-neck. It could come down to one or two votes per ward in some areas. So you know how people always say every vote really counts? We’re NOT kidding.

As a team captain for canvassers in two Milwaukee wards, I’ll be supervising three shifts of canvassers (and checking on voter turnout and monitoring for any voter intimidation or manipulation, like people telling young voters in the college neighborhoods that they can’t vote for one made-up reason or another). Our third shift is all high school students. Dave, the get-out-the-vote director here in Milwaukee promised pizza parties to students from any high school that turns out 20 or more volunteers, thinking he’d only have to cover four or five parties at most. We’ve got 400 students signed up. Dave is a little panicked about having to fork over the money for that much pizza, but thrilled nonetheless.

For folks in Wisconsin, you can find information on how to find your polling location, how to register to vote at your polling location on election day, and other useful info here. Wisconsin has same-day voter registration, and this is an incredibly tight race, so please check out the information and vote!

We write from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where we are part of the people’s campaign to reject the state legislature’s abortion ban. In February 2006, the legislature turned its back on the women and families of South Dakota and passed a ban on virtually all abortions. As soon as the Governor signed the bill, 38,000 South Dakotans signed petitions — more than twice as many as needed — to activate the state’s referendum process. On November 7, voters will have the chance to reject this dangerous and extreme measure (Referred Law Number 6).

We have been helping the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families (www.sdhealthyfamilies.org) in their grassroots effort to stop the abortion ban from taking effect. The ACLU is a member of the SDCHF, and we spend our time educating South Dakotans about how the abortion ban endangers women’s health.

It seems like people of all ages get how this ban interferes with personal autonomy. Dahlia has these two stories to tell:

One woman who I spoke with said that she was absolutely going to vote against the abortion ban and that her grand-daughter could not even get her doctor to prescribe birth control for her, though she is married. This grandma went on to say that “it’s all these men that want women to have babies, but if they just had to walk a week or two in our shoes, they would change their minds in a minute. I’m 91 and I want my grandchildren and great grandchildren to have the same rights that I’ve had in my life.” Nuf said.

I thought this would be the highlight of the trip, but then while using a public restroom in a hotel (wearing our “South Dakota Healthy Families Vote NO on 6″ t-shirts) this woman who was preparing her daughter for a beauty pagent turned to me and said that she’s lived in South Dakota her whole life and is so happy that we’re out there knocking on doors to repeal the abortion ban. She chatted with me for a minute and then her 6 year old asked, “What’s the abortion ban, Mommy?” She’s answered, “How do I explain this to you in 6 year old terms? Ok, some people think that the government should decide when someone becomes a mommy and whether or not people should become mommies and daddies. And we don’t support that. We don’t think that’s ok.” Her 6 year old crinkled up her nose and said, “That’s wierd. I don’t like that.” And then she went on to explain the benefits/ drawbacks of using glitter make up in the beauty pagent.

Not necessarily who I would expect to be our supporters here in South Dakota, but that’s what is so amazing about this whole experience: people defy stereotypes; they whisper thank you as they take our voting materials while they check out whether or not to see if the neighbors are watching; they are supporting a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.

We will continue to work around the clock until Election Day. We know the country is watching the outcome of this vote, as it is an aggressive attack on the reproductive freedom of all women.

– ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project’s Sondra Goldschein, State Strategies Attorney and Dahlia Ward, State Strategist

Here is a look at what is coming up this week in the COPA trial. We’re nearing the end of our case-in-chief. Our only witness left to testify is Professor Ronald Mann.

Remember this? COPA provides an affirmative defense from prosecution for anyone who, in good faith, restricts minors’ access by, among other things, requiring use of a payment card.

Professor Mann will demonstrate that COPA’s credit/debit card affirmative defense does not effectively prevent minors from accessing prohibited material, because many minors have payment cards. In fact, payment card companies increasingly target minors as potential customers. At the same time, many adults do not have payment cards, with the consequence that use of COPA’s affirmative defense would cut them off from much constitutionally protected speech.

Cross examinations start tomorrow. For those who have followed COPA closely, this will probably be the more interesting part of the case. Using the data it subpoenaed from Google and obtained voluntarily from other search engines, the government compiled a massive collection of urls, or web pages, on which to do a study of the effectiveness of filters. The government took these thousands of web pages and classified them according to whether they contained sexually explicit material that was clearly designed for adult entertainment purposes. The government then configured a variety of Internet filters and recorded whether they successfully blocked the sexually explicit material while allowing the other, non-explicit material to pass through.

After that, the government is presenting a couple of arguments that filters will never work. A linguist will testify that due to the inherent imprecision of language, filters cannot be perfect. An economist will testify that due to something he calls the “lemons theory,” the market for filters is fatally flawed and will not yield good products. That should take us through the end of this week. After that, the government will probably present its witnesses who will argue that COPA’s affirmative defenses are available and effective.

ACLU Paralegal Marissa Gonzalez at a Fair Wisconsin phone bank on Saturday

Greetings from beeyootiful Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which really is very, very cute actually — I’d always imagined it to be a very industrial, depressing city and I’m pleased to report that it’s actually got a really nifty downtown, lots of darling neighborhoods, and some stunning architecture. The roads did seem to be under endless construction as we drove home from dinner last night, and we got lost for a good hour and a half. But aside from that Milwaukee is lovely, and the people are SO nice.

Anyway, several ACLU staffers from the New York and D.C. offices have taken time off work to come here to do get-out-the-vote volunteer work for Fair Wisconsin, the group fighting the anti-gay “marriage” amendment that will appear on Tuesday’s ballot in the state of Wisconsin. Within an hour of landing this afternoon I was at a phone bank downtown, calling voters to remind them to vote against the amendment on Tuesday. On Sunday morning we’re handing out literature at churches, then there’s a break for the Packers game (the official state religion around these parts) and back for more phone banking or maybe some door-to-door work.

On Tuesday I’m going to be a team captain, whatever that means — I think it entails driving around to various polling places to see whether the volunteers need anything and watching out for any irregularities that need to be reported (like a precinct claiming it’s out of ballots or voter intimidation or anything like that).

Saturday night a group of us went out to dinner and I was seated next to a sweet elderly gentleman named Ray. Ray and his partner Richard came out of the closet just last year to add their voices to the opposition to the amendment. Richard died a few months ago at 81. In their 49 years together, he and Ray built the kind of loving and enduring relationship that anti-gay amendments like this one damage the most. Spending time with Ray was a great affirmation of what we’re here for.

Wherever you are, PLEASE don’t forget to vote on Tuesday.

Hello again from the COPA trial! Let me try to fill you in on what happened last week.

First off, the Court heard from a trio of school librarians. They explained that in their experience, Internet filters keep kids safe from inappropriate content. Clover Taylor, a high school librarian from Crozet, Virginia, said that in “talking to colleagues, there were images that came up [on students' computers] that were inappropriate. Since the filter has been installed, that instance has been reduced to near zero.” The librarians also described that schools today teach kids how to use the Internet safely.

Second, the Court heard from a parade of Web speakers who fear they will be prosecuted under COPA. The purpose of this testimony was to showcase the valuable speech that will be lost if the law goes into effect.

Especially compelling was the testimony of Dr. Mitch Tepper, founder and President of the Sexual Health Network. Dr. Tepper initially created the organization to provide easy access to sexual health information to those with disabilities and chronic conditions, but has broadened the organization’s scope to include everyone.

At trial, Dr. Tepper explained the unique importance for individuals with disabilities of being able to access sexual health information on the web:

Q: And what about the world wide web is particularly useful for people with disabilities?

A: Well, it gives people with disabilities really unparalleled access to the same information as people without disabilities. So no longer do they worry about how they get transportation to a library or a bookstore, whether they get to that bookstore and it is accessible. They don’t have to pay for it on SexualHealth.com, so all the information is free. So it’s not just easily accessible, but it’s in a way physically accessible . . .

Third, the Court heard from another expert witness, Henry Reichman. Professor Reichman has spent decades studying and cataloging instances of censorship around the country. Having reviewed plaintiffs’ websites, Professor Reichman concluded that the material they publish is more explicit than what has been challenged as inappropriate for minors in libraries, schools and elsewhere.

We’re only a day away from completing our side of the case. After that, the government gets a shot to tell its side of the story - subject to what we hope will be some pretty rigorous cross-examination. Stay tuned.

Day Four in San Francisco was very exciting! On our ride in to canvas, we saw a few of people that looked like they were stuck in the 1960s – dyed shirts and everything!!! They must have missed the memo stating that it’s actually 2006.

Once we got our assignment, Shin and I walked door to door in the very hilly Noe Valley and canvassed our target voters in the precinct. All told, I think we knocked on over 300 doors in just under four hours.

Not surprisingly, many people were outside enjoying the beautiful and uncharacteristically sunny weather and weren’t home. However, we did get to talk to about 40 voters about Proposition 85… and they all agreed with us!!! These voters were all committed to coming out on Tuesday, and on casting their votes against Proposition 85.

Despite the steepest hills and the tallest stairs we have ever climbed, Shin and I felt like our work really made a difference.