Full 2016 Platform

46^th 2018 DRAFT HUMAN RIGHTS & CIVIL RIGHTS

Our Inalienable human and civil rights are guaranteed by the Constitution as our very foundations of freedom and justice and should not be compromised. We Democrats stand united as guardians of these rights, in solidarity against discrimination and injustice. We extend our steadfast support of human and civil rights to all persons.

We believe:

1. Privacy is fundamental; our private lives and personal identifiable information must be kept free from and protected from the intrusion by government or other entities
2. Human rights include the right to life, liberty, freedom from slavery or torture, freedom of expression, food, water, housing, safety, health care, education, the right to request asylum and due process
3. The right to unionize remains a civil and human right
4. Freedom of speech is paramount in a civil society
5. We have the right to sovereignty over our own bodies
6. We have the right to our identity and the freedom to express how we identify ourselves, including our gender and gender expression, and to present ourselves to the world as who we are and how we wish
7. The right of an individual or group to practice their religion does not extend to the denial of the rights of others

We support:

1. Repealing provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Protect America Act and other policies that violate the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as well as international human rights treaties to which the U.S. is a signatory, and ending warrantless government surveillance
2. Strong anti-discrimination and affirmative action laws, including policies applicable to employment, promotion, education, health care and housing
3. A person's right to reproductive choice over their own body
4. Enforcing and monitoring the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Students with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act
5. Protecting those who seek protections within our borders including equal rights in all areas be extended to all persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, age, race, color, or creed, including access to public accommodations and health care

We oppose:

1. The unconstitutional surveillance of U.S. citizens by the NSA and other U.S. intelligence agencies
2. Abuse of our civil rights by the FBI, ICE and other law enforcement agencies
3. The use of military tribunals and indeterminate detention of "enemy combatants" and rendition to other countries
4. Privatization of public services, especially water
5. Segregating public accommodations based on discrimination
6. All modes and methods of denying in practice a person’s right to reproductive choice over their own body, including:
   1. Defunding Planned Parenthood
   2. Requiring complete hospital surgical facilities for abortion
   3. The legal doctrine of “fetal personhood”
   4. Hyde Amendment restrictions on federal funding
   5. Construing religious freedom of a church-owned hospital to deny access to an abortion; or personal choice to have sterilization
   6. Refusing access to gender-affirming health care, services and surgery
   7. Interfering with a court’s power to hear and/or rule on a minor’s request for an abortion
7. “Conversion therapy,” which seeks to change sexual orientation
8. Actions that would restrict or repeal DACA or restrict DACA protections

Move to Tribal Sovereignty:

• Indigenous persons rights: tribal water rights; tribal sovereignty, including spirituality, and respecting sacred lands
• Reinstating federal recognition of the Duwamish tribe
• Protecting tribal water and tribal sovereignty, treaty and welfare rights