ACLU-NC Honors Five Civil Liberties Heroes at 44th Annual Frank Porter Graham Awards

More than 200 people attended the ACLU-NC's 44th Annual Frank Porter Graham Awards at the William and Ida Friday Center in Chapel Hill on Saturday, February 16. The annual event, named after the former University of North Carolina president and U.S. senator, is an opportunity to recognize exemplary civil rights leaders throughout the state for their work on various civil liberties issues.

You can see photos of the event and read about each of our award recipients below:

Keynote speaker:
Jimmy Creech

Author and LGBT and human rights activist

As an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church from 1970 to 1999, Jimmy Creech performed union ceremonies for same-sex couples, each time being put on church trial and eventually losing his credentials of ordination. Creech represented the North Carolina Council of Churches to the state General Assembly on issues including criminal justice, abolishing the death penalty, and repealing sodomy laws.

He has gone on to serve major leadership roles for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty; Soulforce, Inc., an inter-religious movement that confronts spiritual violence perpetrated against LGBT people by religious institutions, and Faith in America, Inc., an LGBT advocacy organization.

Since 1998, Creech has traveled around the country preaching in churches and speaking on college and university campuses, as well as to various community and national organizations about human and civil rights for LGBT people.

He is the 2010 recipient of the Frank Porter Graham Award. During the recent fight against the anti-LGBT Amendment One, Creech and his wife, Chris Weedy, formed a group of volunteers who produced yard signs opposing the amendment and distributed them all over the state.

Frank Porter Graham Award:
Deborah Weissman

For longstanding and significant contributions to the fight for individual freedom and civil liberties in North Carolina.

This year’s Frank Porter Graham Award, our most prestigious honor, will be given to University of North Carolina law professor Deborah Weissman for the many years she has spent working with various individuals and organizations across the state to promote a vision of North Carolina that respects individual rights, human dignity, and due process. As a legal scholar and activist, Weissman has contributed an extraordinary amount of research, writing, teaching, mentoring, and advocacy in defense of liberty. From 1994 to 1998, Weissman was Deputy Director and then Executive Director at Legal Services of North Carolina. In her current position at the University of North Carolina School of Law, she teaches the Immigration/Human Rights Policy Clinic and mentors students doing research projects that benefit advocates for the rights of residents across the state. Weissman has co-authored studies showing “the climate of racial profiling and community insecurity” created when local police are given federal immigration powers and has testified about her findings before a U.S. House subcommittee. She has also worked on issues concerning poverty, gender violence, workers’ rights, and extraordinary rendition.

For a deep commitment to preserving and defending civil liberties in North Carolina.

(Pictured: ACLU-NC Vice President Dan Blau gives the 2013 ACLU-NC Award to Rev. Dr. William Barber II)

As the president of the North Carolina NAACP, William Barber has tirelessly advocated for liberty and equal rights, helping to organize and rally countless people and communities across North Carolina to unite in defense of social justice, voting rights, equal protection, and other causes. Barber organizes the annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HK on J), which brings more than 100 groups to Raleigh to march for civil rights. In 2012, Barber lobbied to preserve the Racial Justice Act, which seeks to address racial bias in the state’s death penalty system, and played a major role in galvanizing opposition to the anti-LGBT Amendment One. After the campaign, he played a critical role in persuading the national NAACP to endorse marriage equality for same-sex couples.

For extraordinary efforts to abolish or limit the death penalty in North Carolina.

Charlotte attorney James “Fergie” Ferguson has dedicated his life to civil rights work and eradicating racism in the criminal justice system, including North Carolina’s death penalty. Ferguson recently advocated on behalf of four state death row inmates in their historical evidentiary hearings under the groundbreaking Racial Justice Act. After the first hearing, in which a client was resentenced to life without parole, the judge concluded that Ferguson “introduced a wealth of evidence showing the persistent, pervasive, and distorting role of race in jury selection throughout North Carolina” and called for reform in capital jury selection proceedings. He has received numerous honors as one of the nation’s top litigators in his global pursuit of justice and fairness.

For extraordinary efforts toward advancing equal rights for LGBT persons in North Carolina.

(Pictured: ACLU-NCLF Vice President Holning Lau presents the 2013 Sharon Thompson Award to Jen Jones)

As Communications Director for Equality NC and the Coalition to Protect All NC Families, Jen Jones helped generate thousands of conversations and hundreds of news stories explaining the need for LGBT equality during the campaign against Amendment One. Jones literally ran across the state during her Race to the Ballot, stopping at meetings across North Carolina to rally equality supporters and explain to media why Amendment One, which banned same-sex marriage and civil unions, was so harmful. After the campaign, Jones helped organize and spoke at many town hall meetings to boost the morale of local LGBT allies, while making sure they knew the fight was not over and that there were still ways they could continue working toward equality.

For volunteering extraordinary time and effort in service to the ACLU of North Carolina.

(Pictured: ACLU-NC Policy Director Sarah Preston (left) gives Katy Parker the 2013 Norman Smith Award)

During her six-year tenure as Legal Director of the ACLU of North Carolina, Katy Parker poured her heart and soul into protecting the rights of countless North Carolinians on issues ranging from free speech and religious liberty to racial justice, reproductive rights, and due process under the law. Parker helped to fight for third-party ballot access, to combat state laws restricting reproductive rights, to overturn the state’s unconstitutional anti-profanity law, and much more. She won a landmark case reaffirming that invocations delivered at government meetings must be nonsectarian. Parker built the ACLU-NC’s legal program into a powerful force for liberty and currently serves on its Legal Committee.

More photos:

From left: ACLU-NC/LF Board Members Julie Lapham, Irene Godinez, and Holning Lau.

ACLU-NC/LF Executive Director Jennifer Rudinger.

ACLU of Wake County Member Josh McIntrye (left) and ACLU-NCLF Staff Attorney Raul Pinto

o
ACLU-NC Policy Director Sarah Preston (left) and former ACLU-NCLF Legal Director and 2013 Norman Smith Award Recipient Katy Parker with her daughter Annabelle.

Pictured: 2013 Frank Porter Graham Award Recipient Deborah Weissman addresses the audience during her acceptance speech.

Leslie Zanaglio (left) and Terri Beck, of Morrisville, are one of six couples serving as plaintiffs in the ACLU's challenge to North Carolina's ban on second parent adoption.

ACLU-NC/LF Treasurer Chris Hill presents the 2013 Paul Green Award.
 

More than 200 people attended the ACLU-NC's 44th Annual Frank Porter Graham Awards at the William and Ida Friday Center in Chapel Hill on Saturday, February 16. The annual event, named after the former University of North Carolina president and U.S. senator, is an opportunity to recognize exemplary civil rights leaders throughout the state for their work on various civil liberties issues.

You can see photos of the event and read about each of our award recipients below:

Keynote speaker:
Jimmy Creech

Author and LGBT and human rights activist

As an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church from 1970 to 1999, Jimmy Creech performed union ceremonies for same-sex couples, each time being put on church trial and eventually losing his credentials of ordination. Creech represented the North Carolina Council of Churches to the state General Assembly on issues including criminal justice, abolishing the death penalty, and repealing sodomy laws.

He has gone on to serve major leadership roles for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty; Soulforce, Inc., an inter-religious movement that confronts spiritual violence perpetrated against LGBT people by religious institutions, and Faith in America, Inc., an LGBT advocacy organization.

Since 1998, Creech has traveled around the country preaching in churches and speaking on college and university campuses, as well as to various community and national organizations about human and civil rights for LGBT people.

He is the 2010 recipient of the Frank Porter Graham Award. During the recent fight against the anti-LGBT Amendment One, Creech and his wife, Chris Weedy, formed a group of volunteers who produced yard signs opposing the amendment and distributed them all over the state.

Frank Porter Graham Award:
Deborah Weissman

For longstanding and significant contributions to the fight for individual freedom and civil liberties in North Carolina.

This year’s Frank Porter Graham Award, our most prestigious honor, will be given to University of North Carolina law professor Deborah Weissman for the many years she has spent working with various individuals and organizations across the state to promote a vision of North Carolina that respects individual rights, human dignity, and due process. As a legal scholar and activist, Weissman has contributed an extraordinary amount of research, writing, teaching, mentoring, and advocacy in defense of liberty. From 1994 to 1998, Weissman was Deputy Director and then Executive Director at Legal Services of North Carolina. In her current position at the University of North Carolina School of Law, she teaches the Immigration/Human Rights Policy Clinic and mentors students doing research projects that benefit advocates for the rights of residents across the state. Weissman has co-authored studies showing “the climate of racial profiling and community insecurity” created when local police are given federal immigration powers and has testified about her findings before a U.S. House subcommittee. She has also worked on issues concerning poverty, gender violence, workers’ rights, and extraordinary rendition.

For a deep commitment to preserving and defending civil liberties in North Carolina.

(Pictured: ACLU-NC Vice President Dan Blau gives the 2013 ACLU-NC Award to Rev. Dr. William Barber II)

As the president of the North Carolina NAACP, William Barber has tirelessly advocated for liberty and equal rights, helping to organize and rally countless people and communities across North Carolina to unite in defense of social justice, voting rights, equal protection, and other causes. Barber organizes the annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HK on J), which brings more than 100 groups to Raleigh to march for civil rights. In 2012, Barber lobbied to preserve the Racial Justice Act, which seeks to address racial bias in the state’s death penalty system, and played a major role in galvanizing opposition to the anti-LGBT Amendment One. After the campaign, he played a critical role in persuading the national NAACP to endorse marriage equality for same-sex couples.

For extraordinary efforts to abolish or limit the death penalty in North Carolina.

Charlotte attorney James “Fergie” Ferguson has dedicated his life to civil rights work and eradicating racism in the criminal justice system, including North Carolina’s death penalty. Ferguson recently advocated on behalf of four state death row inmates in their historical evidentiary hearings under the groundbreaking Racial Justice Act. After the first hearing, in which a client was resentenced to life without parole, the judge concluded that Ferguson “introduced a wealth of evidence showing the persistent, pervasive, and distorting role of race in jury selection throughout North Carolina” and called for reform in capital jury selection proceedings. He has received numerous honors as one of the nation’s top litigators in his global pursuit of justice and fairness.

For extraordinary efforts toward advancing equal rights for LGBT persons in North Carolina.

(Pictured: ACLU-NCLF Vice President Holning Lau presents the 2013 Sharon Thompson Award to Jen Jones)

As Communications Director for Equality NC and the Coalition to Protect All NC Families, Jen Jones helped generate thousands of conversations and hundreds of news stories explaining the need for LGBT equality during the campaign against Amendment One. Jones literally ran across the state during her Race to the Ballot, stopping at meetings across North Carolina to rally equality supporters and explain to media why Amendment One, which banned same-sex marriage and civil unions, was so harmful. After the campaign, Jones helped organize and spoke at many town hall meetings to boost the morale of local LGBT allies, while making sure they knew the fight was not over and that there were still ways they could continue working toward equality.

For volunteering extraordinary time and effort in service to the ACLU of North Carolina.

(Pictured: ACLU-NC Policy Director Sarah Preston (left) gives Katy Parker the 2013 Norman Smith Award)

During her six-year tenure as Legal Director of the ACLU of North Carolina, Katy Parker poured her heart and soul into protecting the rights of countless North Carolinians on issues ranging from free speech and religious liberty to racial justice, reproductive rights, and due process under the law. Parker helped to fight for third-party ballot access, to combat state laws restricting reproductive rights, to overturn the state’s unconstitutional anti-profanity law, and much more. She won a landmark case reaffirming that invocations delivered at government meetings must be nonsectarian. Parker built the ACLU-NC’s legal program into a powerful force for liberty and currently serves on its Legal Committee.

More photos:

From left: ACLU-NC/LF Board Members Julie Lapham, Irene Godinez, and Holning Lau.

ACLU-NC/LF Executive Director Jennifer Rudinger.

ACLU of Wake County Member Josh McIntrye (left) and ACLU-NCLF Staff Attorney Raul Pinto

o
ACLU-NC Policy Director Sarah Preston (left) and former ACLU-NCLF Legal Director and 2013 Norman Smith Award Recipient Katy Parker with her daughter Annabelle.

Pictured: 2013 Frank Porter Graham Award Recipient Deborah Weissman addresses the audience during her acceptance speech.

Leslie Zanaglio (left) and Terri Beck, of Morrisville, are one of six couples serving as plaintiffs in the ACLU's challenge to North Carolina's ban on second parent adoption.

ACLU-NC/LF Treasurer Chris Hill presents the 2013 Paul Green Award.