J. Bennett Guess

NO KINGS Cleveland · No Kings **We have the power and are claiming it together. No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.** What began in 2025 as a single day of defiance has become a sustained national resistance to tyranny, spreading fr...

I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS Cleveland” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

🚨BREAKING: We just filed a federal lawsuit challenging SB 293 for violating the National Voter Registration Act. This new law puts eligible voters – particularly naturalized citizens – at risk of being purged from Ohio’s voter rolls.

🚨The ACLU of Ohio firmly denounces the upcoming 30-day ICE surge targeting Haitians in Springfield.

We must rein in ICE abuses before anyone else is hurt or killed.

Full statement: www.acluohio.org/press-releas...

Anyone who impugns the vitality of Downtown Cleveland has obviously never been here.

Instead, it’s more likely just a pandering politician unleashing tired, fear-based racist tropes against the proudly diverse people of one of this nation’s greatest cities.

"Today’s profoundly disappointing ruling upholds Tennessee’s discriminatory, politically motivated law, which was passed based on junk science and stereotypes about how boys and girls should look and act.”

Yes, Rainbow People of Ohio, our marriages and much more are under serious attack 'This Pride Season, in 2025, our LGBTQ+ community in Ohio needs something akin to a Stonewall brick to our collective consciousness.'

Yes, Rainbow People of Ohio, our marriages and much more are under serious attack

‘This Pride Season, in 2025, our LGBTQ+ community in Ohio needs something akin to a Stonewall brick to our collective consciousness.’

✏️ @jbennettguess.bsky.social of @acluohio.bsky.social

Happy Pride, Columbus!

🌟New piece in @thebuckeyeflame.com from our Executive Director @jbennettguess.bsky.social on the stakes of this #PRIDE season. 🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Yes, Rainbow People of Ohio, our marriages and much more are under serious attack 'This Pride Season, in 2025, our LGBTQ+ community in Ohio needs something akin to a Stonewall brick to our collective consciousness.'

J. Bennett Guess: "They don’t need to change public opinion (and wouldn’t be successful if they tried); they just need to manipulate the levers of government, especially the makeup of the judiciary, to take away people’s popularly enjoyed freedoms."

Congress is trying to pass a bill they’re calling “big” and “beautiful.”

It will cut Medicaid and SNAP benefits.

The working class must say NO to this bill.

It’s a “joke” until it isn’t because it never was. TikTok video by Da’Vion Tatum

“It’s a ‘joke’ until it isn’t because it never was.”

Pope Francis on Key ACLU Issues Pope Francis was a clear and consistent voice on several issues the ACLU of Ohio champions.

Pope Francis and the ACLU had overlapping efforts on certain issues, reinforcing the need to preserve the rights and dignity of ALL people, and to find common ground with unlikely allies on key civil liberties topics. 🧵

www.acluohio.org/en/news/pope...

Places of worship are meant to be spaces for faith, hope, and spirituality – these sensitive locations should not be symbols of fear, deportation, or surveillance.

We cannot allow the Trump administration to terrorize Ohio communities. www.acluohio.org/en/publicati...

🤩We are so proud to be hosting Drag, Dissent, and Democracy -- featuring amazing co-hosts Nina West and Virginia West!

🪩💃🏽Join us in Columbus on May 29 for an evening of performances, storytelling, and community.

🎟️⬇️TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
action.aclu.org/event/drag-d...

Senate Bill 1 suppresses free speech, undermining our democracy: J. Bennett Guess Senate Bill 1 is clearly unconstitutional and, until repealed or overturned, will lead to the suppression of free speech and individual liberties. The ACLU of Ohio remains steadfast in our commitment ...

"SB 1 is clearly unconstitutional and will lead to the suppression of free speech and individual liberties. The ACLU of Ohio remains steadfast in our commitment to First Amendment rights, and we stand prepared to enforce them." --@jbennettguess.bsky.social 👏🏼

www.cleveland.com/opinion/2025...

Three citizens deported. One of them is a 4-year-old with Stage 4 cancer who was deported without medication or the ability to contact their doctors, the family’s lawyer said.

Senate Bill 1 suppresses free speech, undermining our democracy: J. Bennett Guess Senate Bill 1 is clearly unconstitutional and, until repealed or overturned, will lead to the suppression of free speech and individual liberties. The ACLU of Ohio remains steadfast in our commitment ...

“Hard stories of how progress is initiated and sustained, often against entrenched systems and great societal prejudices, is the substance of our American strength… teaching the power of how everyday people participate in shaping their own destinies, the very essence of democracy.”

The people's power might just be the last element of government available to us.

I found this inspiring Syrian-Canadian chocolatier called PeacebyChocolate, refugees from Syria who found welcome in Canada. I bought a box of chocolate bars to hand out to Cleveland friends and talk about why our U.S.-Canadian alliance and friendship must never be undermined. #strongandfree 🇨🇦

NEW REPORT from @acluohio.bsky.social: The fifth edition of our Statehouse-to-Prison Pipeline report is live.

Some Cleveland love and solidarity from the south shore of Lake Erie.

Imagine how Republicans would have reacted last year if Kamala accidentally texted a reporter the administration’s war plans.

We will fight every whitewashing of racial and social injustice with every fiber of our being.

The current vehement attacks on DEI are a total and complete erasure of the vast solidarity movement we witnessed so powerfully in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. Nothing less.

Highlighting Banned Books by Black Authors for Black History Month For Black History Month, the ACLU of Ohio shares a list of ten books that have been banned in the U.S. by Black authors.

🖤Black history matters.

❤️Black stories matter.

🤎Black voices matter.
www.acluohio.org/en/news/high...

Senate bill to ban DEI and faculty strikes is a solution in search of a problem | Opinion I have never, in my years in education, encountered a professor trying to indoctrinate students

SB 1 dismantles a highly successful model of higher education & replaces it with a volatile system. It is a solution in search of a problem, hurting half a million students attending Ohio colleges in addition to faculty members at every public university. www.cincinnati.com/story/opinio...

Image of a black graphic that reads "Black Students Deserve A Chance To Thrive."

By attacking DEI programs that are aimed at addressing systemic racism, Trump has made his goals clear: He wants to take us back in time.

⏱️Heads up! At 2pm, the Senate General Government Committee will hold a hearing on SB 56, legislation that subverts the will of voters and completely dismantles our adult-use cannabis laws.🧵

📣Tell lawmakers to REJECT this overhaul: action.aclu.org/send-message...

We're fighting alongside our communities to protect civil rights over the next four years.

We cannot let any president shock us into complacency or fear.